The Enforcement Directorate on Friday submitted before the special CBI-I court that Trinamul Congress youth leader from Hooghly, Kuntal Ghosh, had allegedly collected Rs 20 lakh each from some candidates for allegedly getting them recruited as teachers for classes IX and X in state-aided schools.
At least six such candidates have been identified, the ED said.
The CBI submitted a production warrant before the Alipore court to seek his remand in connection with its probe into alleged irregularities in teacher recruitment in the state.
Officials of the ED said their investigation had revealed Ghosh had collected Rs 20 lakh from some candidates to get them illegally appointed as teachers for classes IX and X.
At least six such candidates have been identified by the ED, the central agency submitted.
The ED lawyer, Abhijit Bhadra, said on Friday: “Kuntal Ghosh had even collected Rs 2.4 crore from 1,200 candidates whose jobs had been scrapped after court orders saying he would help them file appeals in court to get them reappointed.”
The ED blamed Ghosh for “non-cooperation” while in custody.
Ghosh’s lawyer countered the allegation saying: “On one hand the ED is claiming that Ghosh has admitted to have taken Rs 19 crore from Tapas Mandal and on the other hand the agency is claiming that my client is non-cooperative. This is contradictory.”
Ghosh’s lawyer further submitted before the court that no cash was found in his house when the central agency searched the place and his client was not involved in money laundering.
The ED’s lawyer said Rs 6.5 crore was found in Ghosh’s bank account which had been transferred to multiple accounts. The ED on Friday submitted that they were in the process of identifying the details of the accounts where the money had been transferred.
After hearing both sides, the court extended Ghosh’s judicial remand till March 3.
Turning down the bail petition, the court said that prima facie, there was enough evidence to suggest Ghosh’s alleged involvement in the irregular recruitments.
The court approved CBI’s prayer and ordered Ghosh to be produced before the CBI court on Monday in connection with a case started by the CBI regarding the alleged teacher recruitment irregularities.