Kolkata:

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials probing the cash-for-school job case in West Bengal have secured crucial clues about recommendations for appointments being made not only on paper but also sent via WhatsApp or SMS and were considered by the authorities concerned.

Sources aware of the development said that all these recommendations made in writing or through digital communications, were personally scrutinized and shortlisted by the former state education minister and former Trinamool Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee.

The details of all such recommendations have been mentioned in the annexures attached with the charge sheet filed by the central agency on this count.

The CBI, through such attachments, has already submitted to the special court in Kolkata a list of 324 candidates who were recommended by different influential individuals, including former and present MLAs and MPs for selections.

In the attachments, CBI has also provided the details of 134 such recommended candidates who secured jobs and are currently employed with different state-run schools in the state.

Sources mentioned that Partha Chatterjee, before shortlisting the candidates, used to have close-door meetings with some of his confidant officers of the state education department.

Sources added that for confidentiality’s sake, such meetings were conducted at his residence and not at his office. Mr Chatterjee, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials in connection with the school job case in July 2022, has also been identified as the main brain in the scam in the charge sheet filed by ED.

Besides him, his close associate Arpita Mukherjee and his son-in-law are among the other accused individuals as mentioned in ED’s charge sheet. Babli Chatterjee Memorial Trust, a trust named after Mr Chatterjee’s deceased wife, is also named in the ED charge sheet as an accused entity. It is alleged that the ill-proceeds were shown as donations to this particular trust and thus diverted.

Mr Chatterjee is currently under treatment at a private hospital in Kolkata following a reported deterioration in his medical condition.

The authorities of the said hospital have recently informed a special court in Kolkata that the former state education minister is almost cured and will be released soon.

Earlier this week, the BJP MP from Purulia constituency in West Bengal, Jyotirmay Singh Mahato, wrote to Governor C.V. Ananda Bose and requested him to ensure the safety of Chatterjee.

He alleged a possible life threat for the latter at the private hospital.

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

Kolkata:

The former principal of Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and the station house officer (SHO) who initially investigated the rape and murder of a trainee doctor have been arrested by the CBI for allegedly misleading investigators and trying to hide evidence.

With their actions, the former principal Sandip Ghosh and the police officer allegedly tried to sabotage the investigation into the rape and murder case, which had sparked outrage across the nation.

The arrests came hours after protesting doctors returned from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s house without meeting her after she denied their request to live-stream the meeting.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has been questioning Sandip Ghosh over alleged financial irregularities, has added rape and murder charges against him.

The trainee doctor was raped and murdered inside the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College on August 9. The key suspect, Sanjay Roy, was seen on CCTV during investigation after the trainee doctor’s body was found. The CBI has already conducted a polygraph test on Sanjay Roy, but could not conduct a narco analysis test after he did not give consent, which is needed as per the law.

The CBI took over the case from the Kolkata Police on the Calcutta High Court’s order.

Sanjay Roy, who was a civic volunteer at the hospital, had gone to the red light area Sonagachi on August 8 night. There, he drank alcohol and visited two brothels one after another, sources had said. He then went to the hospital after midnight. He was arrested based on CCTV footage in which he was seen entering and leaving the seminar hall.

The CBI had also questioned Anup Dutta, an assistant sub-inspector and member of the city police welfare board. Mr Dutta’s proximity to Sanjay Roy was suspected to have led CBI officers to understand how Sanjay Roy could have had free access to police barracks where he stayed, and within an institution like RG Kar where he could move around freely at all times of the day.

Earlier today, Ms Banerjee did not allow the protesting doctors’ demand for live-stream of their meeting, citing the RG Kar Medical College case is being heard in the Supreme Court.

“I am requesting, please come and talk as you had requested for today’s meeting. At least come and have tea with me. Why are you disrespecting me? I keep waiting, but it seems you don’t want to meet. Forget politics for now… I will sign the minutes of the meeting, but there will be no live-streaming. It can happen only after Supreme Court permission,” Ms Banerjee said.

Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director and CEO, ICICI Bank. File
| Photo Credit: SHASHI ASHIWAL

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday ruled the arrest of ICICI Bank’s former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Chanda Kochhar, and her husband Deepak Kochhar by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Videocon loan case as illegal. Justice Anuja Prabhudessai and Justice N.R. Borkar confirmed to grant the couple interim bail on January 9, 2023.   

Giving the verdict, the Bench rejected CBI’s arrest reasons memo in December 2023 that non-cooperation and non-disclosure of true facts of the case. “Article 20(3) is an essential safeguard in criminal cases and is meant to be a vital safeguard against torture, and other coercive methods used by investigating agencies. Hence, merely because an accused does not confess, it cannot be said that the accused have not cooperated with the investigation,” the judges said announcing the verdict.  

Also Read | Explained | What is the Videocon-Chanda Kochhar case all about?  

The couple was arrested by CBI for alleged irregularities in a loan of ₹3,250 crore granted to the Videocon Group in the year 2012. The CBI’s charges claimed that the former Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot allegedly invested crores of rupees in NuPower Renewables, a company founded by Deepak Kochhar, months after the ICICI Bank loan was granted to the Videocon group. 

In January 2023, the couple was released by an interim order after a coordinate bench held their arrest was prima facie not in accordance with section 41A and section 41(1)(b)(ii) of the CrPC. 

New Delhi:

A day after the CBI opened a preliminary inquiry into alleged irregularities in the construction of the Delhi Chief Minister’s official residence, a defiant Arvind Kejriwal threw down a challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Kejriwal won’t bow down… no matter how many fake investigations he (the Prime Minister) files,” the Aam Aadmi Party leader said in his first response to the CBI move.

Representative file image.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

About 100 companies dealing in agro-products came under the scanner of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over the past five years on the charge of cheating banks of loans running into thousands of crores of rupees. This year, so far, more than two dozen firms trading in items ranging from rice and spices to oil have been accused of bank fraud involving over ₹1,400 crore.

One of the major cases registered earlier this year pertains to S.A. Rawther Spices Private Limited, which exports and imports spices and coffee. The company took credit facilities from the Jammu & Kashmir Bank. As alleged, the company and its functionaries caused a loss of ₹352.72 crore to the bank. It failed to repay the loan on a regular basis and the account was declared a non-performing asset in September 2017.

Among the others, Shree Basant Oils Limited has been accused of bank fraud to the tune of ₹124 crore, and Saurav (India) Private Limited has allegedly caused wrongful loss of about ₹126 crore to its lenders.

Last year too, multiple cases were registered against the business groups trading in agro-products. One such case pertained to Shri Jalaram Rice Industries in an alleged ₹114-crore bank fraud case.

On December 31, 2021, the CBI had booked Shakti Bhog Foods Limited and others for allegedly cheating a consortium of 10 banks to the tune of ₹3,269.42 crore. Among those named in the FIR are the company’s managing director, Kewal Krishan Kumar, and directors Siddharth Kumar and Sunanda Kumar. The company is into the manufacture and sale of items like wheat flour (under the well-known brand name Shakti Bhog), rice, biscuits and cookies in northern States. In the other States, it has third party tie-ups with various entities.

“In all these cases, the lending banks have alleged diversion of funds through different modus operandi. Shell companies are used to route the misappropriated money, which is many a times round-tripped and invested in related entities. Also, properties are acquired by the accused persons using the funds. In order to get more credit facilities, the companies often inflate their net worth,” an agency official said.