West Bengal: ED questions minister Chandranath Sinha for 9 hours in teachers recruitment scam probe

KOLKATA: West Bengal minister Chandranath Sinha was on Wednesday questioned for nearly nine hours by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with its ongoing investigation into the alleged primary school teacher recruitment scam, a senior official said.

This was the third appearance of Sinha, the state’s correctional services minister, before the central agency in the case. The ED had summoned Sinha to its Salt Lake office to answer a new set of queries and submit relevant documents, the official said.

Following the marathon session, Sinha told reporters, “I have answered all the questions that were asked." The minister brought with him several files and documents to the ED office, the official said.

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Rs 41 lakh cash recovered from Sinha's residence

The central agency has not yet issued any official statement regarding Sinha's latest round of questioning. ED sources said Sinha's name appeared in a diary recovered from Kuntal Ghosh, one of the key accused in the case.

The diary reportedly contains the names of over a hundred individuals allegedly linked to the scam . Following these findings, the ED carried out multiple raids at Sinha's residence.

During the searches, officials reportedly recovered several documents and Rs 41 lakh in cash. The agency has since filed a chargesheet against the minister in court. In response, Sinha had surrendered before court and applied for anticipatory bail.