Suspended Trinamul youth leader Kuntal Ghosh, who is in custody for his alleged role in recruitment irregularities in government-aided schools, said on Friday the claims made by the Enforcement Directorate about his statements on co-accused Sujay Krishna Bhadra were false.
Ghosh, who is in the custody of the CBI, was produced in the Special (CBI)-I Court on Friday.
On his way to the court, he accused the ED of lying about his statement before the court on Thursday.
“My statement of February 1 regarding Sujay Krishna Bhadra has been mentioned by the ED. However, this is a blatant lie. If the ED has integrity, they should produce my statement in the court,” Ghosh said.
On Thursday, during Bhadra’s production in court, ED lawyers had referred to Ghosh’s purported statement that he had paid Bhadra Rs 70 lakh for the illegal recruitment of candidates who had appeared in the Teachers’ Eligibility Test 2014.
The agency’s lawyers also mentioned in the court on Thursday that Ghosh had paid Rs 10 lakh to then education minister Partha Chatterjee at the insistence of Bhadra.
Ghosh on Friday denied the ED claims.
His judicial remand was extended till June 16.
Dead birds seized
A 32-year-old man who dealt in feathers and body parts of birds was arrested on Thursday after a team of foresters raided his house in Kakdwip and found dried up bodies of thousands of birds.
Foresters seized 933 bodies of White Throated Kingfishers, 868 feathers of Grey and Red Jungle Fowls and 168 dried bodies of Swamp Francolins from the house. Salauddin Mir was arrested for allegedly employing men to trap and kill a variety of birds found in the Sunderbans delta, police said.
Trade of any wildlife items or parts is prohibited under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.