The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached properties worth ₹163.20 crores held in the name of Prasanna Kumar Roy, an accused ‘middleman’ in the alleged illegal recruitment of Group C and Group D staff in State-run schools by officials of West Bengal Central School Service Commission (WBCSSC).
In its statement on Saturday, the ED described Mr. Roy as “the main middleman involved in the alleged collection of money and details from candidates” in connection to the purported illegal recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff by the WBCSSC.
Thousands of recruitments conducted by the WBCSSC in 2016 for teaching and non-teaching vacancies for classes nine to 12 in State-run schools were linked to the cash-for-school jobs recruitment “scam”. The prime accused, former West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee, was arrested in connection to the WBCSSC’s recruitment irregularities in 2022.
“The allegation includes [job] appointment without maintaining fairness, in a criminal conspiracy by various persons and by flouting the relevant Rules,” the ED mentioned in their statement.
According to its statement, the ED attached five hotels and resorts, and immovable properties held by Mr. Roy, his wife Kajal Soni Roy, and his company, M/s Shree Durga Dealcom Private Limited. The five hotels and resorts are scattered across the State, in places like Shyampur, Howrah, Sundarbans, and Digha in South Bengal, and Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar in North Bengal.
The ED had initiated the investigation on two FIRs registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 in the alleged illegal appointment of Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ employees.
Earlier, the CBI chargesheets in this matter revealed that a total of 3,432 Group C and Group D staff were allegedly recommended and/or appointed illegally by the officials of WBCSSC, allegedly “in criminal conspiracy with others”.
The ED had earlier arrested Mr. Roy and had attached properties worth ₹230.6 crores in connection to the alleged illegal recruitment of assistant teachers in classes Class IX, X, XI, and XII in State-run schools in West Bengal. One Santi Prasad Sinha, the then Advisor of WBCSSC, had also been arrested by the ED in connection to the assistant teachers’ recruitments.
Both Mr. Roy and Mr. Sinha are currently in judicial custody.
In a separate case of illegal recruitments of primary level teachers in West Bengal’s government-run schools, ED had earlier attached and/or seized properties worth ₹151 crores.
The latest development therefore brings the total value of properties attached and seized in connection to the alleged illegal school recruitments by WBCSSC to ₹544.8 crores.
Published - October 26, 2024 07:32 pm IST
