The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Chandranath Sinha, the minister in charge of micro, small and medium enterprises and textiles, for questioning in connection with its investigation into the money trail related to alleged irregularities in school appointments.
Sinha has been asked to appear before a team of ED investigators at the CGO Complex in Salt Lake on Wednesday. Alternatively, he can send a representative on his behalf, the agency has said.
On Tuesday, the Trinamul MLA from Bolpur told journalists that he would send one of his representatives to the ED’s office in Salt Lake in response to the summons. “My representative will appear on my behalf,” Sinha said.
The summons to Sinha comes within days of a search and seizure operation at the minister’s house in Bolpur by the central agency.
After the almost 14-hour operation on March 22, the ED said it had seized over Rs 40 lakh and one of Sinha’s mobile phones.
A report on the items seized has been sent to the ED headquarters in Delhi and the Election Commission of India, senior ED officials said on Tuesday.
“We would like to clarify a few things that have emerged from the last search and seizure operation at Sinha’s residence. We also want to retrieve some information from the mobile phone in Sinha’s presence,” said a senior ED official.
Sinha was not at his home when the ED team reached the address around 9am on Friday. He rushed back after receiving a call from his son.
Senior ED officials said Sinha’s name surfaced while questioning Kuntal Ghosh and Tapas Mondal, who are now in jail custody.
While Ghosh was a leader of the Trinamul youth wing until the party expelled him last March following his arrest, Mondal was the president of an association of private colleges that offer the bachelor of education (BEd) and diploma in elementary education (DElEd) courses.
“During a search operation at Ghosh’s house, a register was seized. Among several others, the name of the minister was written with reference to close to 100 candidates seeking jobs in state-aided schools,” an ED official said.
“Ghosh and Mondal both named Sinha while referring to a middleman who would allegedly act as a conduit between the minister and the two. The middleman, too, named Sinha during questioning.”
Asked about the cash haul, the ED official said: “We are not sure if this amount was part of the proceeds of any crime. But it is not yet clear why such a large amount would be lying in a minister’s house after the announcement of the dates of the general election.”