Bengal school job case: Bizman who donated bungalow to trust under ED scanner

Kolkata, June 11 (IANS) A Kolkata-based businessman, who donated a highly expensive bungalow to a private trust owned by Sujay Krishna Bhadra a.k.a. Kalighater Kaku (uncle of Kalighat) has come under the scanner of Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths probing the multi-crore school recruitment case.

The total value of the bungalow donated to the trust, christened 'Banglar Bondu (friend of Bengal)' is Rs 6 crore as per the documents available with the central agency sleuths, sources said.

Although for sake of investigation, the ED sleuths are not willing to name the businessman right at this moment, sources added that his residence is quite close to that of Bhadra at Behala in the southern outskirts of Kolkata. The businessman has been summoned for questioning at the ED's Salt office in the northern outskirts of Kolkata.

Sources said that records of high-amount donations from some other people to the trust have also been tracked by the central agency sleuths probing the school recruitment case. Bhadra is currently in ED custody and will be presented at a special court of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on June 14.

Meanwhile, the ED sleuths have questioned civic volunteer Rahul Bera, accused of deleting data from the mobile phones of Bhadra following instructions from the latter, for two consecutive days on Friday and Saturday.

Sources said that while admitting his action of deleting the data from the mobile phones following the instructions of Bhadra during the course of interrogation, Bera has also informed the central agency sleuths of some crucial information about the corporate entities which had links with Bhadra. He has also assured the ED sleuths of total cooperation in the investigation process.

Although for the sake of further investigation, the ED sleuths are maintaining a total secrecy on the nature of clues that they received from Bera, these clues give crucial indication on how the alleged recruitment scam proceeds were diverted through these corporate entities.

It is learnt that the ED has so far come across as many as six companies with links with Bhadra. In the next stage, ED is trying to have an idea on the exact amount of proceeds that were diverted through these corporate entities.