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Kolkata, October 22 (IANS) West Bengal Minister Chandranath Sinha again appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday in the primary teacher recruitment case.
After receiving summons from the central investigation agency, he went to the ED office at CGO Complex in Kolkata’s Salt Lake area.
ED has also interrogated him twice.
Sinha had surrendered before a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on September 6 in connection with the ED’s probe into alleged irregularities in the primary school recruitment case.
Although the ED sought his custody, the court granted him interim bail on a personal bond of Rs 10,000 subject to conditions.
The court said that though bail has been granted, Sinha will not be allowed to leave his assembly constituency or Kolkata.
In August, West Bengal Governor CV Anand Bose approved the charge sheet filed against Singh in the primary recruitment case. The charge sheet was accepted before a special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Kolkata after getting the Governor’s approval.
The court ordered that Chandranath Sinha be summoned by the Central Investigation Agency within 15 days. As a result, he was asked to surrender before the court by 6 September.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on August 6 filed a charge sheet against Sinha in the primary teacher recruitment case in a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in the city.
Sinha is the second minister of the Bengal government against whom the ED has filed a charge sheet in the case, the first being former West Bengal education minister and Trinamool Congress general secretary Partha Chatterjee.
Sinha is a two-time Trinamool MLA from Bolpur assembly constituency in Birbhum district. He avoided appearing before ED officials twice.
ED officials first obtained 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, ED officials had conducted a raid and search operation at the minister’s residence in Bolpur in Birbhum district.
After the raid, ED officials seized Rs 41 lakh in cash and a mobile phone from Sinha’s residence.
Sinha is considered close to senior Trinamool Congress leader and former district president of Trinamool Congress in Birbhum, Anubrata Mandal.
–IANS
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