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ED raids firm linked to Abhishek Banerjee in teachers’ recruitment scam; row erupts
ED held searches at three premises of the firm, Leaps and Bounds Private Limited, whose CEO is Abhishek Banerjee, and said it has seized ‘incriminating documents and digital evidence’
Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said it has seized “incriminating documents and digital evidence” during raids at multiple locations of a company in Kolkata linked to Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee, in connection with the alleged teachers’ recruitment scam.
The federal agency held searches at three premises of the firm, Leaps and Bounds Pvt. Ltd., as part of its ongoing money laundering investigation into alleged irregularities in teachers’ recruitment. In a statement, ED said the action was undertaken against arrested accused in the case, Sujay Krishna Bhadra.
“The accused Sujay Krishna Bhadra was the chief operating officer (COO) of Leaps and Bounds Private Limited, a company used for making dubious transactions running into crores of rupees. Bhadra was also been a director in this company from April 2012 to March 2016,” ED said in a statement. “Abhishek Banerjee, MP from TMC is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Leaps and Bounds Private Limited and was also a director in the company from April 2012 to January 2014.”
The raids took place a day after Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, returned to Kolkata from the US, where he had gone for eye treatment.
“During the search operations various incriminating documents and digital evidence were recovered and seized,” ED said. The agency has so far attached assets worth ₹126.70 crore.
Abhishek Banerjee has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
The ED statement, however, triggered a political row, with the opposition BJP attacking the TMC national general secretary.
“Bhaipo (nephew; as Abhishek is often referred to by political opponents) is behind the whole scam. He siphoned crores of rupees. He cannot escape the agency. Everything will be revealed soon,” BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari told reporters.
The ruling party hit back, accusing central agencies of shielding Adhikari, the leader of opposition in the assembly.
“ED should question Adhikari immediately. He was named as a suspect in CBI’s FIR in the Saradha chit fund scam in 2014,” TMC Rajya Sabha member Santanu Sen said.
The Saradha investigation was started by CBI in 2014 following orders of the Supreme Court. Adhikari was in the TMC at back then.
Arrested on May 30, Bhadra is now in judicial custody. The charge sheet against him was filed by ED on July 28 at a Kolkata court.
In May 2022, Calcutta high court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay ordered CBI to probe the appointment of non-teaching staff (Group C and D) and teaching staff by the West Bengal School Service Commission and West Bengal Board of Secondary Education between 2014 and 2021. The appointees allegedly paid bribes in the range of ₹5-15 lakh to get jobs after failing the selection tests.
The suspected involvement of TMC leaders surfaced when the ED arrested education minister Partha Chatterjee and his aide Arpita Mukherjee in July 2022.
