Bengal recruitment scam: CBI questions ‘Uncle of Kalighat’ for 3 hours
The name of Sujoy Krishna Bhadra, who is referred to as the ‘Uncle of Kalighat’, had cropped up when the CBI questioned some of the other accused earlier
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday questioned Sujoy Krishna Bhadra for around three hours in connection with the multi-crore school recruitment scam in West Bengal.
His name cropped up when the federal agency questioned some of the other accused earlier, who referred to Bhadra as “Kalighat er Kaku” (Uncle of Kalighat). Kalighat is the neighbourhood of Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Bhadra in an earlier interview to a television channel had said that he works in the office of Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary and nephew of Mamata Banerjee.
“Abhishek Banerjee is my saheb. I work in his office. I have been working there since 2009,” Bhadra had told media persons.
He, however, had said that he doesn’t know Tapas Mondal, a co-accused in the scam, who first revealed Bhadra’s name.
“I came because I was summoned. I have told whatever the officers wanted to know. They didn’t want any documents from me,” Bhadra told media after being questioned by the agency.
Later, another suspect Gopal Dalapati, whom the CBI has questioned twice, also told media that he heard the name of ‘Kalighat er kaku’ from Kuntal Ghosh, a former TMC youth wing leader, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in January for his alleged involvement in the scam.
“Ghosh had said a few times that he needs to send payments to Kalighat er kaku,” Dalapati had earlier told the media.
“I stay in Behala and my office is in New Alipore. I don’t know how I became ‘Uncle of Kalighat. Those who said this may better explain,” Bhadra had told the media earlier.
While the CBI is probing the scam on the orders of the Calcutta high court, the ED is running a parallel probe into the money laundering trail. On Wednesday, the ED also questioned Ghosh’s wife Jayashree.
The federal agency has also asked at least three cafeterias in Kolkata to submit CCTv footages. The ED has learnt that some of the accused persons held meetings in those cafes.
“The party stand is clear. We have zero tolerance to corruption. We have full faith on the judiciary. But unfortunately, when the name of a BJP leader crops up during an investigation we don’t see the same enthusiasm of the central agencies and accused are not questioned,” said Kunal Ghosh, TMC spokesperson.
“The entire party, top to bottom, is involved. It can’t be that the chief minister knew nothing of the multi-crore scam. And if she knows nothing of what was going on under her nose, she should accept her failure and step down,” BJP leader Rahul Sinha said.
