For Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee, Monday began with a lot of questions.
The Enforcement Directorate began interrogating Trinamool’s national general secretary at its Kolkata headquarters in connection with a probe into the alleged primary school recruitment scam.
The questioning took place a day after the 38-year-old had a similar session for nearly eight and a half hours with the state CID regarding the alleged forgery of MLAs’ signatures on documents related to the appointment of the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly.
The agency is questioning the Trinamool’s Diamond Harbour MP about alleged money laundering, financial transactions, and irregularities in the recruitment process associated with the case.
The central agency, which investigates financial crimes, claims that a network was established to secure jobs in exchange for money. Through this network, individuals who paid bribes were favored over deserving candidates, the agency claims.
An investigation into this matter was launched by the ED in 2022 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The probe began following an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2022, pursuant to an order by the Calcutta High Court.
Both the CBI and the ED are investigating the destination of the funds generated from the recruitment scam, the individuals who received them, and the methods used to conceal or divert the money.
On July 23, 2022, the ED had arrested former Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee after cash worth over Rs 50 crore and gold jewellery worth Rs 4.5 crore was recovered from the residence of his close aide Arpita Mukherjee during raids linked to the cash-for-jobs scam.
Following these recoveries, the investigative agency claimed that the funds could be linked to illegal transactions arising from the recruitment scam.
The ED has also named Chandranath Sinha as an accused in this case. It conducted searches at his premises in March 2024.
During this period, the ED recovered approximately Rs 41 lakh in cash and several important documents. The investigation also reportedly revealed that large amounts of cash had been deposited into bank accounts under his control.
According to the ED, Chandranath Sinha had purchased several properties in the Bolpur area of Birbhum district in the names of his family members. The investigative agency has provisionally attached these properties.
The agency filed its first charge sheet on September 19, 2022.
On August 6, 2025, the ED filed its sixth supplementary charge sheet, naming Chandranath Sinha as an accused.
To date, seven individuals have been arrested in this specific case, and charges have been framed against 54 individuals and entities, including former minister Partha Chatterjee, Arpita Mukherjee, and former MLA Manik Bhattacharya.
The ED has already attached and seized properties worth Rs 154 crore linked directly to the primary school scam.
The ED states that investigations are underway in Bengal not only regarding the primary teacher recruitment scam but also concerning the SSC assistant teacher recruitment and the Group-C and Group-D recruitment cases.
In cases linked to all these recruitment scams, the ED has attached assets worth approximately Rs 486 crore to date.
According to the ED’s Kolkata office, assets worth a total of approximately Rs 641 crore have been attached across various cases related to recruitment scams so far.
Last year, the Supreme Court upheld the Calcutta High Court order, cancelling the appointment of more than 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff under the West Bengal School Service Commission.
The Supreme Court said the entire selection process is “vitiated by manipulation and fraud” and its credibility and legitimacy “denuded”.
