E-Paper
Calcutta HC reviews order, allows ED officer to probe cases in West Bengal
Justice Amrita Sinha had on September 29 had ordered to remove the ED assistant director from the probe into the multi-crore recruitment scam in state-run schools in West Bengal stating that he was unable to provide “satisfactory” answers to the questions in connection with the case
The Calcutta high court on Friday allowed Mithilesh Kumar Mishra, assistant director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), to investigate cases the agency has filed in West Bengal, officials of the federal agency said.
This came a day after the ED on Thursday appealed to the high court single bench of justice Amrita Sinha to reconsider her order to remove the agency’s assistant director from all probes in West Bengal.
Justice Sinha had on September 29 had ordered to remove Mishra from the probe into the multi-crore recruitment scam in state-run schools in West Bengal stating that the ED assistant director was unable to provide “satisfactory” answers to the questions put forward by the court in connection with the case.
According to the officials aware of the matter, the order was passed during a closed-door hearing which was virtually attended by the concerned officials from Delhi. Media persons and lawyers were not allowed to enter the courtroom.
Several high-profile people, including Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, his wife and his parents have been named before the court as suspected beneficiaries by the ED in the alleged bribe-for-job scam in West Bengal schools.
Calling Mishra incompetent, justice Sinha not only removed him from the education department scam investigation but all ED cases in Bengal.
It was Mishra who had summoned the TMC national general secretary to appear before the agency on October 3.
Abhishek Banerjee’s wife, Rujira, and his parents, Amit and Lata Banerjee, are all directors of Leaps and Bounds, a Kolkata-based company which is under scanner. ED raided the company’s office on August 21 and 22.
After the raid, ED issued a press statement saying “Abhishek Banerjee, MP from TMC, is the chief executive officer (CEO) of M/s Leaps and Bounds Private Limited and was also a director in the company from April 2012 to January 2014.”
Justice Sinha, who is monitoring the investigation had pulled up Mishra during a hearing on September 25 and asked why the probe status report filed by the ED “did not have details of the properties owned by Leaps and Bounds and its directors”.
The judge made strong observations against Mishra before removing him from all cases on September 29.
Mishra had questioned Abhishek Banerjee on September 13 at the ED’s Salt Lake office on the eastern outskirts of Kolkata.
ED officials said that acting on orders of the high court they separately summoned Abhishek Banerjee’s wife and his parents between October 6 and 11 for questioning.
Amit Banerjee, one of the younger brothers of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, and his wife skipped the summons citing health reasons.
Rujira Banerjee was questioned for more than eight hours on Wednesday, hours after Abhishek Banerjee’s lawyers submitted details of his properties at the ED office.
According to the ED, the education department scam is linked to a similar corruption that took place at several civic bodies between 2014 and 2018 under the TMC-led government in West Bengal.
