Teachers' scam: Bank transactions of Trinamool MLA's ex-PA under CBI scanner

Kolkata, April 24 (IANS) Bank transactions of Probir Kayal, the former personal assistant of the Trinamool Congress MLA Tapas Saha, are being analysed by the CBI probing the teachers' recruitment scam in West Bengal.

Sources said that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials had noticed transactions worth Rs 2 crore from a particular bank account of Kayal in the beginning of 2022. They are interacting with the bank officials concerned to get further details on this count.

The central agency sleuths are trying to join the dots on two counts, the first being whether such huge transactions had actually been the proceeds of the multi- crore scam and the second is whether Saha actually used his former personal assistant in the forefront in collecting such proceeds.

Besides this particular bank account in the name of Kayal, the CBI sleuths have also sought details of the bank accounts held by him and his family members.

Starting from April 21 evening which continued till early morning of April 22, the CBI sleuths conducted marathon raid and search operations at the residence of Saha, the Trinamool Congress MLA from Tehatta Assembly constituency in Nadia district, in connection with the scam. Saha has claimed to the media persons that he had been a victim of "conspiracy" hatched by his own party colleagues.

"I am a victim of conspiracy hatched by my own party leader from the district Tina Bhowmik Saha and her associates. They have joined hands with BJP in conspiring against me," Saha alleged.

Meanwhile, Kayal too has floated the conspiracy theory and claimed that although he knew Tapas Saha for quite some time, he had never been his personal assistant in that sense. "I am nowhere involved in the scam. I had been a victim of conspiracy," claimed Kayal, who has also been named in the FIR filed by the CBI sleuths on this count.