New CBI charge sheets mentions Abhishek Banerjee; he calls it fishing expedition

KOLKATA: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has named Abhishek Banerjee in its third charge sheet in connection with irregularities in the appointment of teachers and cited a claim in a 2017 audio clip seized from a prime accused that Banerjee asked for ₹15 crore for the illegal appointments, prompting the Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary to issue a sharp counter.

In a statement, Banerjee’s lawyer Sanjay Basu said the federal agency’s politically motivated narrative was a blatant attempt to tarnish the Lok Sabha MP’s reputation.

“The alleged third supplementary chargesheet is nothing more than a fishing expedition aimed at harassing my client. The CBI has failed to provide a shred of corroborative evidence, with no supporting documents appended to its claims. This is yet another instance of my client being unjustly targeted,” the statement said, describing the charge sheet as an attempt to tarnish Banerjee’s reputation.

CBI, which has been probing irregularities in the 2014 Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) and recruitment of assistant teachers in state-run primary schools following June 2022 orders of the Calcutta high court, submitted its third supplementary chargesheet in the special court on February 21.

In its second supplementary charge sheet, the agency named the former education minister Partha Chatterjee, who is presently in jail.

The third charge sheet accuses Sujay Krishna Bhadra alias ‘Kalighater Kaku’ (uncle of Kalighat) and two others in connection with irregularities in the appointments of teachers. CBI identified Bhadra as the chief operating officer of M/S Leaps and Bounds Private Limited. Previously, the Enforcement Directorate had named TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee as the CEO of the company who had also remained one of its directors for a limited period.

The charge sheet also referred to an audio file of an alleged conversation in 2017 between some of the accused in the case, including prime suspect Sujay Krishna Bhadra.

“It has been further revealed from the conversation that there was a rift between Abhishek Banerjee and accused Partha Chatterjee on the issue of illegal appointment and accused Sujay Krishna Bhadra was heard saying that Abhishek Banerjee had demanded ₹15 crore for the illegal appointment already done,” the charge sheet said.

“When Bhadra expressed his inability to collect more money since the (undeserving) candidates had already paid ₹6.5 lakhs each, Abhishek Banerjee told Bhadra to stop their appointments else he would get those candidates arrested or get the candidates posted at distant places,” it said.

“Sujay Krishna Bhadra, Santanu Banerjee, and Kuntal Ghosh were planning to collect bribes from an additional 2000 candidates for their appointment, to the tune of ₹100 crore for paying off Partha Chatterjee, Abhishek Banerjee and Manik Bhattacharya to the tune of ₹20 crore each and sharing the remaining amount among themselves,” it added.

The TMC MP rejected the claims.

“The CBI’s politically motivated narrative is a blatant attempt to tarnish Abhishek Banerjee’s reputation. By inserting unverified statements into a case concerning others, the agency has raised serious concerns about the fairness of its investigation,” Banerjee’s lawyer said in the statement, insisting that CBI had resorted to baseless allegations though the TMC leader had extended his “full cooperation” to the probe.

“Notably, the ED, responsible for investigating alleged proceeds of crime, has not filed any charge sheet against my client, underscoring the absence of incriminating material against him,” the lawyer’s statement read.