Bengal Guv approved chargesheet against minister in schoolteachers' recruitment case, says ED in court

Kolkata, Aug 20 (IANS) West Bengal Governor CV Anand Bose has approved the chargesheet filed against state minister Chandranath Singh in the primary schoolteachers' recruitment case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) told the court on Wednesday.

The chargesheet was accepted in a special court of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Kolkata, after receiving the Governor's approval.

The court ordered that Chandranath Sinha, West Bengal Minister incharge of the micro, small and medium enterprises and textiles department, be summoned by the central investigation agency within 15 days.

Earlier this month, the ED received a setback in prosecuting Sinha in the case after it failed to receive the approval of the chargesheet against him from the Raj Bhavan.

As a result, even though the chargesheet was submitted before the court, it was not accepted. Due to this, it was not possible for ED sleuths to proceed further in the case and prosecute the state minister.

The recording of testimony in the recruitment case could not be done as the chargesheet was not accepted by the court. The matter was heard on Wednesday and the chargesheet was finally accepted in the court.

Sinha is the second Minister in the Bengal government against whom the ED had filed a chargesheet in this case, the first being the former West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee.

Sinha is a two-time Trinamool MLA from Bolpur Assembly constituency in Birbhum district. He twice avoided appearing before the ED officers.

On August 7, Sinha suddenly appeared at the ED's office, however, it was not clear whether he had been questioned or not.

On July 31, ED investigators had sent a request for property documents from Sinha. At the same time, documents related to all the movable and immovable properties of the Minister and his family were also sought.

However, Sinha did not appear before ED officers at its CGO Complex office in Kolkata's Salt Lake. He had reportedly asked the ED for more time.

The ED officials first secured the name of the Minister from the diary of the middleman and now suspended Trinamool Congress leader Kuntal Ghosh, who was later arrested by the central agency officials.

In March last year, the ED officials conducted raid and search operations at the Minister's residence at Bolpur in Birbhum district.

After the raid, the ED officials seized Rs 41 lakh in cash and a mobile phone from Sinha's residence.

Sinha is known to be close to strongman and former Trinamool Congress district president in Birbhum, Anubrata Mondal.

--IANS

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