WB school teachers' recruitment 'scam': ED attaches assets of expelled TMC functionaries
_vb_78.jpeg)
New Delhi: Assets worth more than Rs 15 crore of expelled TMC youth wing leaders Kuntal Ghosh and Santanu Banerjee and another person have been attached in connection with a money laundering probe into the alleged West Bengal school teachers' recruitment scam, the ED said on Friday.
The attached properties are in the form of bank accounts, shares, mutual funds, residential flats and land, the agency said in a statement. The total value of the provisionally attached assets, seized under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, is Rs 15.03 crore.
They belong to accused persons Ghosh, Banerjee and Ayan Sil who "acted as agents in the illegal collection of money from aspiring candidates for the posts of primary teacher", it alleged. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had earlier arrested the three and Sil is an alleged associate of Banerjee.
Former TMC leader and West Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee, his alleged associate Arpita Mukherjee, TMC MLA and former president of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education Manik Bhattacharya and Sujay Krishna Bhadra, considered to be close to the TMC top brass have also been arrested in the case.
Chatterjee was also suspended by the TMC after his arrest by the ED.
Two more accused -- Souvik Bhattacharya and Satarupa Bhattacharya -- were sent to judicial custody by a special PMLA court in Kolkata after they appeared before it following the filing of a chargesheet (prosecution complaint) by the agency against them. A total of four charge sheets have been filed by the ED in the case till now while the total seizure and attachment of assets stands at Rs 126.70 crore.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
NIA registers case to probe recovery of 79 crude bombs in poll-bound West Bengal
New Delhi (PTI): The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday registered a case to probe recovery of 79 crude bombs in poll-bound West Bengal, officials said.
The move came following a directive by the Union Home Ministry in this regard, they said.
In pursuance to the home ministry's order, the anti-terror agency on Sunday registered a case, which was originally filed at Uttar Kashi police station, Bhangar division, Kolkata on Saturday, and took up the investigation, an NIA spokesperson said in a late night statement.
"The case pertains to recovery of 79 crude bombs and other incriminating materials by Kolkata police, which were being stored at a spot, thereby endangering human life and property," the spokesperson said.
Earlier in the day, the Election Commission had directed the West Bengal Police to launch a special drive to arrest those involved in illegal manufacturing of crude bombs in the poll-bound state, an official said.
It asserted that all cases related to the making of any such explosive would be probed by the National Investigation Agency, the official said.
The directive came after the police recovered a large number of crude bombs from the house of a person, allegedly a TMC worker, at Bhangar in South 24 Parganas district, days ahead of the second and final phase of the assembly polls in the state.
The explosives were recovered during a search at the residence of Rafikul Islam following specific inputs, the official said.
The poll panel also issued a warning to senior police officers across the state over any lapse in maintaining law and order before the April 29 polling.
The first phase of the assembly elections in West Bengal was held on April 23, while the second phase will take place on April 29. Votes will be counted on May 4.
A record 93.19 per cent turnout has been recorded in the first round of polling. Bhangar will vote in the second phase.
