Bengal school job case: ED files 5th supplementary charge sheet

Kolkata, Dec 3 The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday said that it has filed the fifth supplementary charge sheet, or supplementary prosecution complaint, in the multi-crore cash-for-school job case in West Bengal.

According to a statement issued by the ED on Tuesday, a total of names of 29 persons and corporate entities have been named in the fresh charge sheet filed under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2020 before a special PMLA court in Kolkata.

This fresh charge sheet relates to irregularities in the appointment of primary teachers in different state-run schools in West Bengal.

Sources aware of the development said that the names of the companies named in the fresh charge sheet include some linked to the former West Bengal Education Minister and Trinamool Congress Secretary General Partha Chatterjee.

These companies linked to Chatterjee had been under the scanner of the ED officials for a long time after their officials got specific clues that these entities were basically shell companies opened basically to divert the ill-gotten proceeds in the school job case.

The fresh charge sheet, sources claimed, also named another much-talked-about corporate entity linked to Sujay Krishna Bhadra, a prime accused in the school job case.

As per the statement issued on Tuesday by the ED, the total seizures and attachments, at present, in relation to the case stand at around Rs 151.26 crore. This includes cash seizure to the tune of over Rs 50 crore and gold from the twin residences of Partha Chatterjee’s close aide Arpita Mukherjee in July 2022.

After this recovery, both were arrested by the ED officials.

Recently, Mukherjee has been released on bail, though Chatterjee continues to be in judicial custody. Recently, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is conducting a parallel probe in the school job case, has also shown Chatterjee as arrested in the matter.

Source: IANS