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Leader from north Bengal under CBI scanner in recruitment scam: Officials
A TMC youth wing leader, who was arrested for his alleged involvement in the recruitment scam, has claimed that ₹39 lakh was transferred from the account of the personal assistant of an influential political leader in north Bengal
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is looking into the possible role played by an “influential political leader” from north Bengal in connection with its probe into alleged irregularities in the recruitment of teachers, officials familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
CBI officials familiar with the matter said that during interrogation, Kuntal Ghosh, Trinamool Congress (TMC) youth wing leader who was arrested for his alleged involvement in the scam, has claimed that ₹39 lakh was transferred from the account of the personal assistant of an influential political leader in north Bengal to the account of Gopal Dalapati’s wife in a bank in Mumbai.
Ghosh had repeatedly accused Dalapati of taking all the money he took from the job seekers when he was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate. Dalapati is also an accused in an old chit fund case.
“Several things have come up during interrogation of the accused persons including Kuntal Ghosh and Tapas Mondol. Their statements are being verified,” said a CBI officer without divulging details.
Ghosh was arrested by ED on January 21. The federal agency is running a parallel probe into the scam to unearth the money laundering trail. Ghosh has been remanded to CBI custody till February 23.
Another name that has cropped up during interrogation is that of one Sujoy Bhadra, who has been referred to as “Uncle of Kalighat” by the accused persons. Dhar works in the office of Abhishek Banerjee, TMC’s national general secretary, since 2009.
“I don’t know who is Kuntal Ghosh. I have not taken any money from anyone after promising any job. My own daughter had appeared in the School Service Commission exam but couldn’t secure a job of a Group C staff. My niece who has passed masters, has a BEd degree and has qualified the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), is still unemployed,” Dhar told the media.
Bhadra has been earlier questioned by the CBI in connection with the multi-crore coal scam in which the federal agency has also questioned Abhishek Banerjee, his wife Rujira and his sister-in-law Maneka Gambhir. He was also summoned by ED but he didn’t appear for questioning.
“One climbs the ladder taking one step at a time. It won’t take much time to reach the one who is sitting above this uncle. His (Bhadra’s) name had come up during questioning of arrested TMC leaders. Every time it has been seen that the stone has hit the bull’s eye. I think this time too it has hit the right target,” said Rahul Sinha, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader.
Meanwhile the foreign trips of Manik Bhattacharya, TMC legislator who was arrested in connection with the recruitment scam, his wife Satarupa, and his son Souvik have also come under the scanner of ED.
ED has learnt that Souvik had been to London at least twice in 2017. He had initially suppressed this fact. The Bhattacharya family had also been on foreign trips at least 15 times between 2012 and 2022. The agency suspects that Bhattacharya has a flat in London, even though the latter had earlier refuted this allegation.
“We want the investigation to be completed at the earliest. Even the court has expressed its frustration as to how long will this continue. We want the truth to come out and the guilty be punished. The TMC has zero tolerance towards corruption. At the same time we want investigation against BJP leaders who have been named in other scams,” said Santanu Sen, TMC member of Parliament (MP).
Bhattacharya’s wife and son were arrested by the ED on Wednesday. They were sent by the court to judicial custody till February 23.
