Bengal School Employment Case: ED Freezes Rs 56.50 Crore Assets Linked to Middleman
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Synopsis
The Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 56.50 crore related to a cash-for-school job scam in West Bengal. The properties belong to middleman Prasanna Kumar Roy, arrested in connection with the investigation into recruitment irregularities.
Key Takeaways
- ED attaches assets worth Rs 56.50 crore.
- Middleman Prasanna Kumar Roy arrested.
- Properties include land, commercial spaces, and villas.
- Investigation involves Group C and D staff recruitment irregularities.
- Previous attachments total Rs 609.9 crore across related cases.
Kolkata, April 23 (NationPress) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) declared on Wednesday that it has provisionally frozen assets totaling Rs 56.50 crore concerning the extensive cash-for-school job scandal in West Bengal.
As per an announcement from the ED, the seized assets include land parcels, commercial properties, apartments, and villas owned by middleman Prasanna Kumar Roy, who was previously arrested in relation to the school job scandal.
This attachment of property is part of the ED's investigation into misconduct linked to the hiring of non-teaching personnel in Group C and Group D roles across various state-run schools.
According to the statement, the ED has already attached assets valued at Rs 163.66 crore in connection with this Group C and D recruitment fraud in West Bengal. Both Prasanna Kumar Roy (the primary middleman responsible for collecting funds and candidate details) and Chandan Mondal (the principal agent for Roy) are currently in judicial custody.
The ED also reported that in a related matter concerning irregular appointments of secondary and higher secondary teachers in West Bengal, assets worth Rs 238.78 crore had been previously attached.
In another case regarding the recruitment fraud of primary teachers in West Bengal, the ED has already seized properties worth Rs 151 crore. Consequently, the total value of assets attached by ED Kolkata in recruitment fraud cases has reached Rs 609.9 crore. Further investigations are ongoing.
Earlier this month, a division bench of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, upheld a prior ruling from last year by the Calcutta High Court’s division bench comprising Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Shabbar Rashidi, which annulled 25,753 teaching and non-teaching positions, representing the entire 2016 WBSSC panel.
The apex court also agreed with the Calcutta High Court's division bench that the complete panel needed to be annulled due to the state government and commission's failure to distinguish between 'genuine' and 'tainted' candidates.
