Kolkata: ED raids residence of Trinamool Congress confidant

Kolkata: Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids are currently underway at the residence of Sujay Krishna Bhadra, known to be a close confidant of top Trinamool Congress leadership, in connection with the school recruitment case in West Bengal.

The ED raids on Saturday are taking place on the same day that Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee is slated to face CBI questioning in Kolkata regarding the same case.

The ED and CBI are conducting parallel probes in the case.

On Saturday morning, a team of ED sleuths reached Bhadra's residence in Behala, located in the southern outskirts of Kolkata.

Earlier, the CHI had also raised Bhadra's residence during which they seized some documents and cash.

Bhadra's name had surfaced after Gopal Dalpati, a suspect in the case, had named him during central agency interrogations.

Dalpati told the sleuths that an accused in the recruitment case and expelled youth Trinamool Congress leader Kuntal Ghosh, used to handover a portion of the scam proceeds collected by him to Bhadra, whom Ghosh used to address as 'Kalighater Kaku' (uncle of Kalighat).

As per Dalpati's versions, Ghosh claimed that Bhadra was his main link with the top leadership of the state's ruling party.

Sources said that besides the residence of Bhadra, another ED team is conducting parallel raid and search operations at his office.

At the same time, other teams of the central agency are conducting parallel raids at eight other places in the city, some which are the residences of some close associates of former state Education Minister Partha Chatterjee, who is currently in judicial custody over his alleged links with the recruitment case.