Bengal school job scam case: Political slugfest erupts over Bhadra's arrest

Kolkata, May 31 (IANS) Despite not being any heavyweight leader in the party, Sujay Krishna Bhadra, a close confidante of top Trinamool Congress leadership, has been able to erupt tremendous political slugfest in West Bengal after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the multi-crore school recruitment case in the state.

Trinamool Congress's state spokesman in West Bengal Kunal Ghosh has questioned the timing of his arrest without directly referring to the development which happened just 24 hours after Congress legislator Bayron Biswas joined the Trinamool Congress.

"Following the joining of Bayron Biswas to Trinamool Congress, the unholy nexus of Congress-BJP-Left Front in West Bengal received a major jolt. The question is whether the day-long drama was an attempt to divert attention from the prime issue. It is evident from the manner in which the three opposition parties are rejoicing," Ghosh said in a Twitter message.

Bhadra was arrested at around 11 p.m. Tuesday after a marathon interrogation that lasted for over 12 hours.

Reacting to his message, the leader of the opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari said that the fear of the Trinamool Congress leaders proved that the central agencies had now reached the soul of the school recruitment case.

"Sujay Krishna Bhadra aka "Kalighat-er Kaku" Arrested. The long arm of the Law is finally reaching towards the masterminds & the biggest beneficiaries. NO ONE WILL BE SPARED. THE HIGH & MIGHTY WILL GO TO JAIL. TIME IS TICKING... Know the Associates of "Kalighat-er Kaku", Adhikari said in a counter Twitter message.

Bhadra's name had surfaced after Gopal Dalpati, a suspect in the case, named him during the central agency's interrogations.

Dalpati told the sleuths that an accused in the recruitment case and expelled youth Trinamool Congress leader Kuntal Ghosh, used to hand over a portion of the scam proceeds collected by him to Bhadra, whom Ghosh used to address as 'Kalighater Kaku' (uncle of Kalighat). As per Dalpati's versions, Ghosh claimed that Bhadra was his main link with the top leadership of the state's ruling party.

During the course of investigation on Tuesday, Bhadra reportedly dodged questions pertaining to his links with three corporate entities, which the central agency sleuths suspect to be shale companies used in diversion of proceeds of school recruitment case.

On May 20, the ED had conducted raids at Bhadra's residence in Behala. The raids were carried out on the same day when CBI sleuths had questioned Trinamool Congress's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in connection with the case.

Earlier, the CBI had also raided Bhadra's residence during which they seized some documents and cash. The ED sleuths have accessed certain clues from the two mobile phones of Bhadra that were seized.