Kolkata, Feb 3 (IANS) A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court here on Friday sent Trinamool Congress youth leader Kuntal Ghosh to 14 days judicial custody in connection with his alleged involvement in the multi-crore teachers’ recruitment scam.
Ghosh was arrested by Enforcement Directorate (ED) on January 21 and since then he was in the custody of the central agency. On Friday, he was presented at the court which sent him to judicial custody till February 17.
Counsel for ED told the court that Ghosh allegedly received around Rs 19 crore from different candidates for arranging jobs as teachers in state-run schools and a major part of that amount reached the former state Education Minister and Trinamool Secretary General Partha Chatterjee, who is in judicial custody in relation to the same scam.
Counsel also told the court that collection of scam proceeds by Ghosh was a two-way affair. First, he collected money promising jobs and when the investigation by central agencies like ED and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the matter started, he collected additional funds from the same candidates to make arrangements for fighting the legal battle if their services are terminated, counsel added.
While moving his bail plea, Ghosh’s counsel Raja Sengupta informed the court that the central agency had not recovered any money from Ghosh’s residence. “My client has been arrested just on the basis of allegations. Hence, the case of money laundering cannot be slapped on him,” he argued.
–IANS
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