The Enforcement Directorate (ED), while probing the illegalities in the West Bengal school recruitment scam, has tumbled across documents revealing illegalities in the appointment of municipalities across the State.
The ED has carried out search operations and arrested Ayan Sil in the teacher recruitment scam on March 20.
“The search operation which concluded at the wee hours of 20.03.2023 resulted in the seizure of incriminating documents and electronic records/ devices pointing towards huge collection of illegal money running into crores of rupees from the job aspirants of primary teachers. Various incriminating documents corroborating/ revealing illegalities in the recruitment of mazdoors (labour), clerks, peons, mistry, drivers in the municipalities of the State of West Bengal have also been recovered and seized during the searches from the premises of Ayan Sil,” a press statement by the ED said.
The ED on Tuesday said that a PMLA court had granted the agency Ayan Sil’s custody for 13 days. The ED in a tweet displayed OMR (optical mark reader) of various examinations recovered from the residence of Ayan Sil. The recovery of OMR sheets used in recruitment in municipalities has sparked a political debate in the State with the Opposition parties targeting the Trinamool Congress. During the proceedings of the court, the ED counsel alleged that ₹100 crore was collected by the accused from illegal means during recruitment for 2012 and 2014.
The press statement of the central agency said that the agency had so far arrested six persons involved in the scam namely, Partha Chatterjee, MLA and then Education Minister of West Bengal; Arpita Mukherjee; Manik Bhattacharya, MLA, Trinamool Congress and ex-president of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education; Kuntal Ghosh; Santanu Banerjee; and Ayan Sil in the teachers recruitment scam in West Bengal.
“Further, ED has already seized cash amounting to a total of ₹49.80 crore and gold & jewellery valued at more than ₹5.08 crore and provisionally attached properties worth ₹48.22 crore in the case. The total seizure and attachment stand at ₹111 crore in the case so far,” the agency said.
Published - March 22, 2023 05:29 am IST
