Probing teachers' scam, ED gets clues of similar indiscretions in Bengal municipality recruitments

Kolkata, March 20 (IANS) During the course of its ongoing probe in multi-crore recruitment scam in teaching and non-teaching staff in West Bengal, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has come across clues of somewhat similar indiscretions in recruitment of staff in different municipalities in the state.

These crucial clues have come in the hands of the central agency sleuths during their marathon 40-hour raid at the residence of a private promoter Ayan Shil in connection with the teachers' recruitment scam. Shil was arrested early Monday morning.

Sources said that during the course of this marathon raid and search operations, the investigating sleuths have recovered a number of crucial documents relating to copies of advertisements for recruitment for different positions in different municipalities in the state and even some copies of appointment letters on this count.

These recoveries have made the ED sleuths to believe that just as recruitments for teaching and non-teaching staff in the state-run schools were made against the payment of hefty amounts by the candidates concerned, there had been similar financial involvement in the recruitment of municipalities staff in different corners of the state.

Sources said that these documents were recovered from the hard-disc of the personal computer of Ayan Shil at his residence where sleuths conducted the raid and search operations.

"This investigation is really turning out into a labyrinth where the probe process in a particular sector is leading to similar scams in another sector. The matter has been reported to our top officials and now they will decide over the next course of action on this count," an ED associate said.

What is keeping the central agency sleuths intrigued is that how such crucial documents like optical mark recognition (OMR) sheets for written examinations by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) as well as the appointment letters of different municipalities in the state reached the residence of Ayan Shil, who is officially nothing but a private real estate promoter.

The ED sleuths believe that this could not have been possible unless the arrested promoters had extremely close links with the insiders in both WBSSC as well as these municipalities.

Shil will be presented at a special court of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA in Kolkata on Monday afternoon only, where the ED counsel will seek his custody.

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