West Bengal Teacher Recruitment Scam: Big Success For ED; 350 OMR Sheets Recovered From Realtor Close To TMC Leader

KOLKATA: Following the raid and search operations, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), probing the multi-crore recruitment scam for teaching and non-teaching staff in the state-run schools in West Bengal, has recovered as many as 350 optical mark recognition (OMR) sheets from the residence of a private real estate promoter at Salt Lake in the northern outskirts of Kolkata.

The raid and search operations that started since Saturday and are continuing till the time the report was filed. The real estate promoter from whose residence the OMR sheets have been recovered is Ayan Shil, an extremely close confidante of expelled youth Trinamool Congress leader, Santanu Bandopadhyay, who is currently in ED custody because of his alleged involvement in the multi-crore recruitment scam.

"The question is how could the OMR sheets, which are supposed to be in the safe custody of West Bengal School Service Commission, be dumped at a private property. The 350 OMR sheets recovered are of different years. Besides, the OMR sheets, a list of probable candidates to be shortlisted for the selection, were also recovered from Shil`s residence," said an ED associate.

Apart from these recruitment-related documents, the investigating sleuths have got documents of some property that are jointly- owned by Bandopadhyay and Shil. The ED officials doubt that a major part of the scam proceeds collected by Bandopadhyay was invested in the real estate business owned by Shil.

Already, the ED counsel has informed a special court of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Kolkata that a major part of the crime proceeds collected by other expelled and arrested youth Trinamool Congress leader Kuntal Ghosh has been invested in the business of film financing.

The ED counsel has also claimed that on this count Ghosh also gave advance to a number of Tollywood actors and actresses. Now with Shil's involvement, the connection of the real estate sector in the scam has also surfaced.