NEW DELHI: In a significant development, Enforcement Directorate (ED) director Sanjay Kumar Mishra reached Kolkata to assess the agency’s progress in the alleged multi-crore teacher recruitment scam in West Bengal.
According to sources within the ED, the director is expected to hold meetings with the investigators to discuss the ongoing cases. Additionally, he will gather information about the status of all the financial corruption investigations being conducted by the ED in the state.
On Thursday, the ED arrested Sujoy Krishna, an aide of senior Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee, in connection with the Bengal teachers’ recruitment scam after 12 hours of interrogation.
This is the first visit by the ED chief to West Bengal for the probe into the teacher recruitment scam, which led to the arrest of three TMC MLAs —Partha Chatterjee, Manik Bhattacharya, and Jabin Saha — by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The development holds significance for the ongoing SSC scam probe, as the investigators hope to gain deeper insights into the case through Krishna’s interrogation.
On May 19, Abhishek Banerjee, the TMC national general secretary, received an appearance notice from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The notice is related to the CBI’s probe into the primary teachers’ recruitment scam in West Bengal. Specifically, it is in connection with the Kuntal Ghosh letter case, following the approval received from the Calcutta High Court.
The Trinamool Congress has faced severe criticism due to the alleged involvement of its leaders in various corruption scandals, including the SSC scam and cattle smuggling scam, among others. Central investigative agencies have summoned several TMC leaders for questioning in various corruption-related cases.
One of the most crucial arrests made in the recruitment scam was that of Partha Chatterjee, who was taken into custody by the ED on July 23. This followed the recovery of a significant amount of currency from the residence of his close aide, Arpita Mukherjee. The arrests sparked massive protests by job aspirants who took to the streets, demanding justice.