School jobs scam: Jailed TMC MLA’s wife and son surrender, sent to judicial custody

Their lawyer filed a bail petition that was rejected by the court after it was opposed by the federal agency.

The ED, which has termed Manik and former education minister Partha Chatterjee as “masterminds” of the scam, said the mother-son duo was part of the recruitment scam also. Besides, it has claimed that the Bhattacharyas had parked money abroad and used to launder money from countries like the Maldives and Vietnam.

It is alleged that Souvik had claimed before the ED that he visited abroad for “educational purpose” though he had told the Bureau of Immigration that it was for “residential purpose”.

Meanwhile, three more accused in the case — TMC youth leader Kuntal Ghosh and alleged middlemen Tapas Mondal and Niladri Ghosh — were sent to judicial custody till March 9 after they were produced in the court on Thursday.

The CBI has Niladri Ghosh’s name surfaced in the case after Kuntal was arrested.

During interrogation, the TMC youth wing leader claimed that Tapas and his aide Niladri were directly involved in the racket and they conspired to get him implicated in the case. Ghosh was named by Tapas Mondal who was questioned several times by the central agency before he was arrested.

The CBI has also interrogated Gopal Dalapati whose name has cropped up following Kuntal’s interrogation in the case. Ghosh is learnt to have claimed that the money collected from job aspirants was parked in a Mumbai bank account belonging to Dalapati’s wife.

“I will keeping saying that all the money is with Dalapti and his wife,” Ghosh told mediapersons when being taken out of the court on Thursday.