Teachers' scam: ED arrests one more Trinamool Congress leader

Kolkata, March 10 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested one more Trinamool Congress leader on Friday evening in connection with the multi-crore teachers' recruitment scam in West Bengal.

The arrested person is Santanu Bandopadhyay, the principal nodal officer of Trinamool-controlled Hooghly district Zilla Parishad.

Sources said that ED had summoned Bandopadhyay for questioning in connection with the scam on Friday. After almost eight hours of questioning, the ED decided to take him into custody as he reportedly tried to dodge the questions of the interrogating officers.

ED sources said that the main charge against Bandopadhyay is that he was responsible for hunting candidates willing to pay to get teaching jobs in state-run schools and establish their communication with the scam operators.

Bandopadhyay will be presented before a special PMLA court in Kolkata on Saturday when the ED counsel will seek his custody in the matter.

Arrested youth Trinamool leader Kuntal Ghosh also hails from Hooghly district and the ED believes that Ghosh worked in close coordination with Bandopadhyay in this scam.