School jobs scam: ED arrests Abhishek Banerjee’s aide after 12-hour questioning

Bhadra’s lawyer Najmul Alam Sarkar said, “They (ED officials) are not communicating with us. I kept waiting for long outside the agency’s office but I wasn’t allowed in.”

Earlier, the agency had asked Bhadra to appear in person at its office in CGO Complex in Salt Lake where he reached at 11am on Tuesday. This was the first time he appeared before the ED investigators even as he was summoned for questioning earlier also.

The CBI has also summoned him twice.

On May 20, the ED agency carried out a search in his flat and office in Behala. Earlier, the CBI had searched his flat on May 4. The businessman appeared before the CBI once in March but skipped the agency’s second summons and instead sent his lawyer.

The businessman was first named in the recruitment scam by Tapas Mondal, one of the arrested agents allegedly involved in the scam.

According to sources, Abhishek Banerjee’s mother is a director in a company run in the name of Bhadra who claims to be an employee in Banerjee’s office.

It is alleged that the TMC leader is a partner in the company, Leaps & Bounds Private Limited, which is into manufacturing of packaged mineral drinking water.

Also, the ED has written to state departments in the corruption probe seeking some details. The letters have been sent to the departments of Public Works, and Urban Development, and the Municipal Service Commission. The agency has enquired about the process under which recruitments have been made in the last eight years. The ED also wanted to know as how many people have been employed in these years.

Bhadra, also known as Kalighat er Kaku (uncle from Kalighat) had earlier alleged that he was a victim of a politically motivated investigation.

Interestingly, he had contested the Bhowanipore by-election in 2011 as an independent candidate against TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee (Chief Minister) and polled 809 votes.

Time is ticking, says BJP; TMC hits back

Taking a dig at the TMC leadership following Bhadra’s arrest, Leader of Opposition in Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari tweeted, “The long arm of law is finally reaching towards the masterminds & the biggest beneficiaries. No one will be spared. The high and mighty will go to jail. Time is ticking.”

He also shared pictures claiming Bhadra’s links with Abhishek Banerjee.

Countering his claims, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, “Suvendu Adhikari is facing an FIR in the Narada case that is being probed by a central agency. Clearly, Bayron Biswas’ joining the TMC didn’t go down well with the BJP and the Congress. It was a planned effort to uplift the morale of their (BJP’s) workers. If he (Bhadra) has been arrested for something wrong, the party won’t stand by him. It is a politically motivated move.”

Lok Sabha MP and West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, ” This is so funny that they are finding a link between Bayron Biswas and the ED probe. The TMC is a corrupt party. Technically speaking, Biswas is still a Congress MLA.”

CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said, “I am surprised that if an employee of (Banerjee) can own three companies and have crores of rupees, I wonder how much property and money his employers have.”