Kolkata, Jan 22 () The Enforcement Directorate (ED) probing the multi- crore teachers’ recruitment scam in West Bengal has procured some vital clues that indicate the commission- basis involvement of arrested Trinamool Congress leader Kuntal Ghosh in the scam.
Ghosh was arrested by the central agency sleuths on Saturday morning after a marathon raid and search operations for about 24 hours that started from Friday. During the course of search operations, ED sources recovered some crucial documents relating to the scam – related transactions.
Sources said that these documents were some notes on accounts which clearly indicate the commission- based involvement of the arrested leader for the arrangement of each candidate willing to shell out hefty sums to procure teachers’ jobs in state state-run schools.
After the examination of the documents seized from his residence, sources said, the central agency sleuths have spotted that existence of a third person responsible for acting as the main middleman between Ghosh and the masterminds of the scam in West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) and West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC).
However, for the sake of investigation, the ED is keeping the name of that third person a secret.
From examining the notes of accounts recovered from the residence of Ghosh, the ED sleuths have been able to deduct a breakup of the amounts received for teaching and non- teaching grades in this nexus. As per the estimates of the central agency sleuths, the maximum money transfer was done in case of recruitment of primary teachers at around Rs 10.50 crore followed by the upper- primary grade at Rs 3.24 crore.
Before his arrest by the ED, Ghosh was also questioned twice by the sleuths of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is conducting a parallel probe in the recruitment scam.
He was questioned following the statement given to the CBI by Tapas Mondal, president of All Bengal Teachers’ Training Achievers’ Association (ABTTAA), an umbrella organisation of the private teachers’ training institutes in West Bengal, that Ghosh received a massive amount of Rs 19 crore in various phases relating to the scam.
src/dpb