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CBI arrests key suspect in Bengal job scam probe
The CBI has also arrested one of the numerous agents who allegedly collected money from job seekers in West Bengal
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Tapas Mondal, a key suspect in the West Bengal job scam, on Sunday evening, around two months after he was named in the second charge-sheet of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is conducting a parallel probe in this case, officials said.
Mondal was the president of the association of Bengal’s 625 private-run bachelor of education (B.Ed) and bachelor of elementary education (B.El.Ed) colleges and institutions till he was named in the ED’s second charge sheet in December last year. The ED has accused him of money laundering.
The CBI on Sunday also arrested Niladri Ghosh, one of the numerous agents who allegedly collected money from job seekers in the districts.
Mondal was summoned and grilled by the CBI in Kolkata several times from last year. Based on his statement, the ED arrested Kuntal Ghosh, a Trinamool Congress (TMC) youth wing leader from Hooghly district, on charges of raising money from the job seekers. Mondal named a second TMC leader, Shantanu Banerjee, whose home was raided by the ED.
“I was cooperating with the investigators all along. I don’t know why the CBI arrested me,” Mondal told reporters on Sunday evening when he was being taken for the mandatory medical examination before being taken into custody. He will be produced before a court on Monday, officials said.
In January, Mondal told CBI that more than ₹100 crore was allegedly raised by some TMC leaders from people who were employed as teachers and staff at state-run schools across West Bengal.
A CBI official said on condition of anonymity that Mondal was known to be a close associate of TMC legislator and former president of the primary education board, Manik Bhattacharya, another key accused named in the ED’s second charge sheet. Bhattacharya, the MLA from Palashipara in Nadia district, was arrested by ED on October 11 last year. He is in judicial custody.
In May, 2022, the Calcutta high court directed CBI to probe the appointment of non-teaching staff (Group C and D) and teaching staff by the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) and West Bengal Board of Secondary Education between 2014 and 2021. The appointees allegedly paid bribes in the range of ₹5 lakh to ₹15 lakh to get jobs after failing the selection tests.
Former state education minister Partha Chatterjee and his aide, Arpita Mukherjee, were arrested by the ED in July last year. Both are now in judicial custody.
In its first charge sheet filed on September 19, the ED said it traced cash, jewellery and immovable property worth ₹103.10 crore linked to Chatterjee and Mukherjee.
CBI officials said tracing the source of this money is a big challenge because Chatterjee refused to cooperate with investigators and the statements given by Mukherjee were inadequate.
