School job case: Calcutta HC seeks ED report on probe progress against Abhishek Banerjee

Kolkata, Aug 29 (IANS) Calcutta High Court’s single- judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha has sought a report from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the progress of investigation against Trinamool Congress’ national general secretary and party Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee in connection to the multi-crore cash for school job case in West Bengal.

Justice Sinha has directed ED to submit the report at her bench by September 14.

Justice Sinha also raised questions on why the central agency did not summon Banerjee again in the matter after sending him a notice just once.

She was not satisfied with the argument of the ED counsel that since Banerjee had already made a petition for expunging his name from the ambit of investigation in the school job case, the central agency is waiting for an order in the matter.

She also reacted to the submission of the ED counsel that no coercive action can be adopted unless a clear order in the petition on this count comes forth. “Does that mean that you will not progress with the investigation process?” Justice Sinha questioned.

Referring to a recent press statement from ED, she questioned the progress of investigation against the chief executive officer of a corporate entity linked to the school job case named in the said statement issued by the central agency in the matter.

On Tuesday, Justice Sinha also said that from now on the central agency probe on the multi- crore municipalities recruitment case in West Bengal will also be court-monitored.

The ED also faced strong criticism over a central agency officer during a raid at the office of the said corporate entity last week downloading a personal file inadvertently from a computer of the same entity.

The ED official while searching for a students’ hostel for his daughter, who has recently got admitted to one of the reputed engineering universities in the state, downloaded a hostel-related file. Justice Sinha described such an action on part of an investigating official while being on duty as highly irresponsible.