Trinamool youth wing leader Kuntal Ghosh held in Bengal school recruitment case

Bengal recruitment case: The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate have been carrying out probe in the matter.

Updated on: Jan 21, 2023, 11:12:48 IST

By HT News Desk | Reported by Joydeep Thakur | Edited by Swati Bhasin

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Trinamool Congress youth wing leader Kuntal Ghosh has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with Bengal school recruitment case, people aware of the matter said on Saturday. The arrest came after the federal agency questioned him and searched his two flats in the northern fringes of Kolkata on Friday. Ghosh was previously questioned by the CBI too.

Trinamool Congress youth wing leader Kuntal Ghosh. (File photo/ Facebook)

The TMC's Tapas Mondal, who was summoned and questioned by CBI in Kolkata earlier this month, had named Kuntal Ghosh as one of those who had raised money from the job-seekers. according to officials, HT had reported earlier. Mondal had reportedly also named party leader Shantanu Banerjee. “The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had earlier arrested former education minister (and TMC leader) Partha Chatterjee and traced cash and property work more than ₹100 crore. And now, Mondal is making fresh claims. We are probing it,” a CBI officer was quoted as saying.

Speaking to reporters after he was held, Kuntal Ghosh said his arrest was “the result of Mondal's conspiracy”.

The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate have been carrying out probe in the Bengal recruitment case for months now. Over ₹100 crore was allegedly raised by the leaders of the ruling party in Bengal from job aspirants to employ them as teachers and staff at state-run schools across the state between 2014 and 2021, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials probing the case were quoted as saying in the HT report.

Last year, former state education minister Partha Chatterjee was held in the School Service Commission recruitment for classes IX-XII, bringing the Mamata Banerjee government under attack from the opposition.

The CBI was directed in May last year 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.

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