Gopal Dalapati, who had earlier been arrested by Delhi Police in connection with a default scam and whose name has cropped up during the investigation into the alleged irregularities in school recruitments in Bengal, was quizzed for several hours by the Enforcement Directorate here on Tuesday.
Sources in the Enforcement Directorate said his name emerged during the questioning of Trinamul youth leader Kuntal Ghosh, who is in the agency’s custody in connection with the recruitment scam.
Dalapati visited the Enforcement Directorate’s office in Salt Lake’s CGO complex on Tuesday afternoon and was quizzed for several hours. Tapas Mondal, another accused, was also at the Enforcement Directorate’s office for questioning.
“Ghosh has alleged that Tapas Mondal and Gopal Dalapati were involved in collecting money from candidates after promising them jobs in government-aided schools. We are probing the allegations,” said an Enforcement Directorate officer.
Mondal was president of an association of Bengal’s 625 private bachelor of education (BEd) and diploma in elementary education (DElEd) colleges till he was named in the ED’s second chargesheet in the recruitment case in December.
Dalapati is believed to be close to Mondal. He had been arrested by Delhi Police in connection with the default scam running into crores of rupees and had been in Tihar Jail till a year ago, when he was granted bail.
The Enforcement Directorate had been looking for Dalapati since the arrest of Ghosh, but failed to track him down.
On Monday, they received a call from Dalapati, who purportedly offered to be examined by the agency, following which he and Mondal were summoned to the ED’s office on Tuesday
While entering the Enforcement Directorate’s office in Salt Lake’s CGO complex, Dalapati said he was “innocent” and that he was being framed
Former Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee and senior officials of the education department have been arrested in connection with alleged irregular appointments for government-aided schools.