CBI grills senior TMC leader, minister; Mamata slams BJP’s ‘Tughlaqi raj’

Two senior Trinamool Congress leaders – Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal and junior minister Paresh Chandra Adhikari – were questioned by the CBI here in separate cases on Thursday, while West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP-led central government of ''misusing federal agencies to settle political scores''.

The central agency had to cut short its interrogation of Mondal in connection with its probe into a cattle smuggling case in West Bengal after he complained of chest pain. Adhikari who is the minister of state for education was grilled by CBI sleuths on a Calcutta High Court order regarding a case of alleged illegal appointment of his daughter as a teacher in a state government-aided school.

The CBI, following orders of the high court, has been investigating a number of cases where teaching and non-teaching staff were allegedly appointed illegally in schools following recommendations by the West Bengal Central School Service Commission (SSC).

The Central Bureau of Investigation had on Wednesday quizzed another senior TMC leader and Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee as the alleged recruitment scam had taken place when he was the education minister.

The high court on Thursday directed the CRPF to continue to guard the SSC headquarters here after petitioners said there was a possibility of tampering with records, and also restricted the number of employees who can enter the Commission’s office. Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay directed the CBI to ''keep a hawk's eye'' on the data room after sealing it by 6.30 pm on Thursday.

A CBI team visited the SSC office after the court order.

Amid the row over irregularities in SSC appointments, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slammed the BJP-led government at the Centre for unleashing a ''Tughlaqi raj'' in the country and ''misusing federal agencies to settle political scores''.

On the around four-hour interrogation of Mondal, a CBI officer told PTI that he was being asked questions related to his alleged involvement in the cattle scam.

“It was during one of the (questioning) sessions that he complained of uneasiness and wanted to see a doctor. We allowed him to leave,'' he said.

From the CBI office, Mondal went to state-run SSKM Hospital and left the facility following certain medical examinations that took almost three hours. Earlier too, the central agency had summoned Mondal for interrogation on several occasions but he skipped appearances citing ill health and political programmes. The TMC leader was asked to reappear before the investigating officers in the case next week.

Adhikari, on the other hand, reached the CBI office in the evening after a high drama that started two days ago and a series of high court orders.

On May 17, the MLA of Mekhliganj in Cooch Behar district in the northern part of the state was ordered by the high court to appear before the CBI by 8 pm that day. He was seen to board the Kolkata-bound Padatik Express train at Jalpaiguri Road station along with his daughter on May 17 night but remained untraceable since then.

The CBI lawyer informed the court on Thursday that Adhikari did not come to its Nizam Palace office here on the designated date or thereafter.

Adhikari's lawyer claimed before Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay that he is in Cooch Behar and sought time to make himself available before the CBI as directed earlier.

The judge said that Adhikari had flouted orders, but the court, instead of initiating any contempt proceedings, was granting the minister time till 3 pm on Thursday. At 3 pm, Adhikari's lawyer informed the court that he will travel by flight to Kolkata on Thursday evening.

The court then directed the Commissioner of Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate to get in touch with the airport authority so that soon after the minister comes out of the flight, he can be taken by the force to the CBI office.

To ensure preservation of records at the SSC headquarters, Justice Gangopadhyay directed that no one except its chairman, his advisor, secretary and assistant secretaries and not more than two stenographers will be allowed inside it.

He directed that the CRPF will continue to guard the SSC premises till Friday and two of their personnel will guard the data room on the second floor of the SSC headquarters round the clock till further order.

The lawyers for the petitioners claimed that there was a possibility of tampering with records following the sudden resignation of the SSC chairman Siddhartha Majumdar, just four months after taking over on Wednesday evening and a day after he made statements before the court regarding alleged illegal appointments.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)