ED raids Sujay Krishna Bhadra’s properties in Bengal teacher recruitment scam case

On May 20, the residence of Sujay Krishna Bhadra, also known as “Kalighat’er Kaku,” was raided by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in relation to the teachers’ recruitment scam. He is considered to be close with the top brass of the West Bengal ruling government of Trinamool Congress (TMC).

According to the official, the investigating agency is also conducting searches in a number of other places across the state as part of its inquiry into the case.

Following Bhadra’s suspected participation in the West Bengal education scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) questioned him on March 15. The CBI claimed that large sums of money obtained from the recruiting scam were delivered to Bhadra. He allegedly holds the position of chief operational officer at a private limited firm whose directors include TMC’s, Abhishek Banerjee.

The ED is currently looking into two of Bhadra’s properties, and the officials have been stationed at each location. Also, he was summoned in the case after Tapas Mondal, another accused, previously mentioned his name. Even though Bhadra insisted he had nothing to do with teachers’ recruitment.

The ED is looking into the money trail associated with the alleged irregularities in school recruitment, while the Central Bureau of Investigation is looking into the criminal aspect of the scam.

Last month on April 17, CBI arrested TMC MLA Jiban Krishna Saha in regard if his recruitment scam. He is an MLA from the Burwan Constituency of West Bengal. The case was registered on the orders of the High Court of Calcutta, and the concerned authorities conducted raids at six locations.

During searches, several incriminating materials were recovered, including primary and upper teachers’ recruitment and documents containing the list of the candidates and amounts mentioned against them. He was arrested after detailed questioning by officials. CBI have also previously arrested TMC MLA Partha Chatterjee and Manik Bhattacharya during their investigation into the scam.

On May 12, the Calcutta High Court cancelled the appointment of about 36,000 ‘untrained’ primary school teachers who were recruited by the West Bengal Board of Primary Education in 2016. The court held, “The appointment of all 36,000 (thirty six thousand) (more or less) candidates who were untrained at the time of recruitment in 2016 recruitment process conducted by the Board in the post of primary teachers are cancelled for various reasons as have been elaborated above”.

The Calcutta High Court observed that the “gross illegality” in the selection procedure shows that the Board conducted the entire 2016 recruitment process “like the affair of a local club” and noted that it is now coming to light with Enforcement Directorate’s investigation that “jobs for primary school teachers were actually sold to some candidates who had the money to purchase the employment”.