Teacher recruitment scam | ED officials raid residences of two Bengal Ministers
The Hindu
Bengal Ministers Partha Chatterjee and Paresh Adhikari’s residences were raided as part of CBI’s probe into a teacher recruitment scam
A team of Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials raided the residences of Bengal Ministers Partha Chatterjee and Paresh Adhikari on Friday as part of its probe into a teacher recruitment scam, a source in the agency said.
At least seven to eight ED personnel arrived at Mr. Chatterjee's Naktala residence here around 8.30 a.m., and carried out searches till 11 a.m. with CRPF personnel keeping guard outside, the source said.
Another team of agency officials visited Mr. Adhikari’s home at Mekhliganj in Coochbehar district and talked to his family members, he stated.
According to the ED source, officials had also carried out a simultaneous raid at the residence of the former chairman of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education, Manik Bhattacharya, in the Jadavpur area of the city.
The CBI, as directed by the High Court, is looking into the alleged irregularities committed in the recruitment of Group-C and D staff as well as teachers in government-sponsored and –aided schools on recommendations of the West Bengal School Service Commission. The ED is tracking the money trail in the scam.
Mr. Chatterjee, currently Industries and Commerce Minister, held the education portfolio when the scam was allegedly pulled off. He was interrogated by the CBI twice, once on April 26 and then on May 18.
Mr. Adhikari, the Minister of State (MoS) for Education, had also been grilled by the CBI with his daughter losing her job as school teacher. He told reporters he could not get in touch with his family over the phone.
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