Former education minister Partha Chatterjee said he would appeal to chief minister Mamata Banerjee for his release from jail custody and added that he wanted a “level playing field” to prove he was not guilty.
“I want to be released from jail immediately. I will appeal to the chief minister,” Chatterjee told reporters on his way out of the CBI special court in Alipore on Monday. “I want a level playing ground to prove my innocence. I am not guilty.”
Arrested for his alleged involvement in the irregularities in appointments in state-aided schools by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on July 23 last year, Chatterjee was produced at the CBI special court in Alipore on Monday.
This is the first time since his arrest that Chatterjee openly sought Mamata’s help for his release.
Following Chatterjee’s arrest, the chief minister had said her party would accept whatever the court verdict was.
Chatterjee said it had been a year that he had been in custody without trial and added that he was neither the head of recruitment nor that of recommendations for school appointments.
“I am in custody for a year without trial. I don’t know what the CBI has been saying but I was not involved in anything. I was neither the head of recruitment nor that of recommendations. I am not guilty,” Chatterjee said.
Chatterjee also said he wondered what the role of the Bandi Mukti Committee was, a rights body that works for the release of political prisoners.
“Partha Chatterjee is not a political prisoner,” Sujato Bhadra, human rights worker, said while explaining why the committee could not take up the case.
The CBI, in its first chargesheet in the school recruitment case (Group C category) last October, had named Chatterjee as the “mastermind” in the case.
