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The Law Enforcement (ED) Directorate on Monday interviewed a suspected middleman, Subrata Malakar, in connection with the School Services Commission (SSC) recruitment scam and raided at least four locations in West Bengal as part of the investigation into the case.
A Mumbai central agency team which arrived in Kolkata on Sunday to investigate the foreign exchange trade is investigating whether alleged proceeds of crime from the school jobs scam have been diverted to foreign shores.
ED officials raided Malakar’s home in Rajendrapalli area, Sodepur, North 24 Parganas district on Monday morning. Malakar was arrested and interrogated after a search operation that lasted for hours. He was taken to another premises in Belgharia which would belong to him.
The agency said it seized several documents ordering Malakar, a chartered accountant, not to leave town.
The agency, which had seized foreign currency from the apartment of Arpita Mukherjee, associate of former minister Partha Chatterjee, is trying to find out if the money was diverted via traders, CAs and intermediaries.
Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee are in custody. Two intermediaries, Prasanna Kumar Roy and Pradeep Singh, were arrested earlier in the case. Pradeep, who was arrested on August 24, allegedly used to find “unqualified” candidates for teacher recruitment and then contacted SSC officials.
Prasanna Roy, whom the agency said was a key intermediary in the case who ran a rental car business in Salt Lake, was arrested based on Pradeep’s statement. Pradeep worked as a computer operator at Prasanna’s office in Salt Lake. Investigators say Prasanna rented cars from former SSC adviser Shanti Prasad Sinha who was also arrested in the matter.
