Bengal school jobs scam accused Sujay Krishna Bhadra remanded to 14-day ED custody

NEW DELHI: A special PMLA court here on Wednesday rejected the bail prayer of Sujay Krishna Bhadra, considered to be close to TMC top brass, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with its probe into the alleged money-for-school jobs scam in West Bengal.

The court remanded him to 14 days' custody of the central agency. Bhadra was arrested on Tuesday night by the ED after marathon questioning for over 12 hours in connection with its probe into alleged illegal appointments made in different state-run and-aided schools. Rejecting the bail plea by Bhadra, the special court remanded him to ED custody for 14 days on a prayer by the agency. The judge directed that Bhadra be produced before the court again on June 14 and that the accused be medically examined every 48 hours during the period of his ED custody.

He was arrested for allegedly not cooperating with the investigation. The ED had on May 20 carried out a raid at the residence of Bhadra, popularly known as ‘Kalighat er Kaku’ (Kalighat’s uncle). Bhadra had earlier been questioned by the CBI, which is also investigating the alleged recruitment scam on the order of the Calcutta High Court.

Former West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee, his alleged close associate Arpita Mukherjee, Trinamool Congress MLA Manik Bhattacharya and several other former officials were arrested by the ED or/and the CBI in connection with the investigation and are at present in judicial remand. The ED claimed before the court on Wednesday that Bhadra's name cropped up in the statement of another arrested accused Kuntal Ghosh. The Central Bureau of Investigation is probing the criminal aspect of the scam, while the ED is looking into the money trail involved in the alleged irregularities in the recruitment in schools.