Daijiworld Media Network - Kolkata
Kolkata, Apr 23: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said it has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 56.50 cr in connection with the ongoing school jobs scam in West Bengal. The assets, including land parcels, flats, commercial spaces, and villas, are owned by middleman Prasanna Kumar Roy, who was earlier arrested in the case.
The case pertains to large-scale irregularities in the recruitment of group C and D non-teaching staff in state-run schools. Roy, identified as a key figure in the scam, allegedly facilitated the collection of money and candidate details, along with his aide Chandan Mondal. Both are currently in judicial custody.
The ED noted that, including the latest attachment, assets worth Rs 609.9 cr have now been attached across multiple investigations related to school recruitment scams in the state. This includes earlier seizures linked to the recruitment of secondary and higher secondary teachers, and another case involving primary school teachers.
The agency’s crackdown comes in the wake of a recent Supreme Court ruling that upheld a Calcutta High Court decision to cancel the 2016 West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment panel, affecting over 25,000 appointments. The top court concurred with the High Court's view that the state government and the commission had failed to distinguish genuine candidates from those who gained appointments through fraudulent means.
Further investigations are ongoing, the ED said.