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A key hearing in the multi-crore cash-for-school-jobs scam in West Bengal is set to take place today at a special PMLA court in Kolkata.
The court will decide whether Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials will be granted custody of Bengal Minister Chandranath Sinha for custodial interrogation over his alleged role in the scam.
According to sources, the fate of Sinha — West Bengal’s Minister for Correction Services as well as Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises and Textiles — will largely depend on how effectively his counsel can counter the money laundering charges brought against him by the ED.
The ED has accused Sinha of engaging in fictitious financial transactions worth Rs 12.73 crore through bank accounts held by him and his family members. He has also been charged with failing to justify the sources of large cash deposits made in phases into his accounts, as well as misreporting or underreporting his income in subsequent tax filings.
On September 6, Sinha surrendered before the same PMLA court in connection with the ED’s probe into the alleged recruitment scam. The court later granted him interim bail on a personal bond of Rs 10,000, with certain conditions attached.
Soon after, the ED submitted its sixth supplementary chargesheet to the special court, detailing financial irregularities in the accounts of Sinha and his family members.
The document highlighted a series of large, phased cash deposits made into a joint account held by the minister and his wife, Kuntala Sinha, at a Kolkata branch of a public sector bank.
According to the sixth supplementary chargesheet, a total of Rs 1.18 crore in cash was deposited into the joint account between January 2016 and November 2019 — identified as the peak period of the alleged school recruitment scam.
Earlier this week, ED counsel pressed for Sinha’s custody to enable further interrogation, citing documents submitted to the court that they claim substantiate the charges against him.
The outcome now hinges on the special PMLA court’s decision later today, which will determine whether the agency succeeds in securing the minister’s custody.