(MENAFN- Live Mint) West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee, a key accused in the SSC recruitment scam, was granted bail on Tuesday, more than three years after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate on July 23, 2022.

Chatterjee, who had been hospitalised in a private facility in Mukundapur, south-east Kolkata, for the past 203 days, was released from judicial custody after submitting his bail bond, PTI reported.

His release followed the completion of the examination of witnesses before a trial court on Monday in connected cases being probed by the CBI.

He had earlier been granted bail in the ED cases, while the Supreme Court had subsequently granted him bail in the connected CBI cases with the condition that he would not be released until the agency completed its examination of witnesses.

Chatterjee's followers had gathered in significant numbers in front of the hospital, shouting 'Partha da zindabad' slogans amid an emotionally charged atmosphere when the former Trinamool Congress secretary general boarded his car and headed for his Naktala residence in south Kolkata.

(With inputs from agencies)

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