Cash-for-jobs scam: Meets held at WBBPE office, claims ED

Kolkata: ‘Recruitment meetings’ in the alleged cash-for-jobs scam were held at the office of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education while Trinamool MLA Manik Bhattacharya was the board president, claims the Enforcement Directorate. The agency has mentioned this in its remand letter to the special PMLA court in Kolkata.In the remand letter, ED mentioned that accused Sujay Krishna Bhadra held meetings with Bhattcharya and another accused Kuntal Ghosh over recruitment of candidates who couldn’t make it to the merit list. Sources hinted that Tapas Mandal, who allegedly was an ‘agent’ in the scam, told the agency that he had sent a list of 325 candidates to Bhadra and paid Rs 3.25 crore to Kuntal Ghosh. According to Mandal, Bhadra took the list to Bhattacharya and held a meeting with him at his office. Investigators on Thursday questioned Bhadra based on Ghosh’s recorded statements and Mandal over his alleged role. ED officers on Tuesday had placed records of Bhadra and Bhattacharya’s chats since 2018.On Thursday, ED also questioned Bhadra about the three companies in which he had a role. The agency has seized documents that show a transfer of Rs 40 lakh made by Bhadra to a developer firm where accused Santanu Banerjee’s wife Priyanka Banerjee was a director. ED officers wanted to know whether the proceeds from the scam were pumped into the three suspected shell companies.