Bengal recruitment scam: Abhishek Banerjee welcomes SC's transfer of cases from Justice Ganguly's bench
Kolkata/IBNS: Trinamool Congress (TMC) general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has welcomed the Supreme Court order of transferring all cases from Justice Abhijit Ganguly's bench owing to the latter's television interview with a local private channel on the corruption issues.
Speaking to the media, Abhishek said, "We have always welcomed the court orders. We welcome this order as well."
"If someone from TMC is involved in the scams, he/she must be probed. We want all culprits to be penalised so that an example can be set in the whole country," the TMC MP added.
The top court directive is significant as Justice Ganguly's orders in the scam cases have created ripples in the state with multiple arrests including the one of former education minister Partha Chatterjee.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud has asked for a separate judge to hear the respective cases.
The Supreme Court order stems from an interview where Justice Ganguly spoke on the cases, referred to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, revealed that he was upset with TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in one instance et al at length.
While Justice Ganguly's strict actions and directives had impressed anti-government protesters who were demanding "justice" and legitimate recruitments, a section of people had questioned his television interview citing "ethics".
Former state education minister Partha Chatterjee, former primary education board president and Trinamool MLA Manik Bhattacharya are among the people who have been arrested so far in connection with the scam.
Partha and his close-aide Arpita Mukherjee were arrested in the cases after a huge cash (about Rs 50 crore) was recovered from the latter's two flats.
Both are still behind the bars.