ED seeks symbolic confiscation of school in whose accounts job scam proceeds were transferred

Kolkata, Oct 17 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday told the Calcutta High Court's single-judge bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh that it would like to go for a symbolic confiscation of a 100-year school in whose accounts the proceeds of the alleged school jobs scam case in West Bengal was transferred under the camouflage of donations.

The ED counsel on Tuesday told the court that the school was named after the father of Trinamool Congress legislator and the former chairman of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education Manik Bhattacharya, who is currently in judicial custody because of his alleged involvement in the school job case. 

The ED counsel also told the court that the renaming of the school was done in 2018 after huge funds were transferred from the accounts of the school through cheques of consecutive denominations of an account held by Bhattacharya's son Souvik Bhattacharya, who is also in judicial custody in the same matter.

Informing that the ED sleuths had started the process of confiscation of the school, the central agency counsel assured that it would be just a symbolic confiscation and that it would not be tantamount to closure of the school. 

Although Souvik Bhattacharya claimed that he had just donated a lakh of rupees to the school, the ED counsel claimed the figure to be much higher. 

The central agency counsel also claimed that Manik Bhattacharya politically benefitted through the renaming of the school in the name of his father. 

The counsel also told the court that the investigation officials have also sourced information about a local club in whose accounts money was transferred from the same bank account.