Kolkata, Feb 17 (IANS) The beginning of the charge-framing process against Chandranath Sinha, the West Bengal minister, accused of involvement in the multi-crore cash-for-school job case in the state, might be delayed for an indefinite period.

This is because the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which had mainly initiated the charge framing against West Bengal Minister in charge of micro, small and medium enterprises and textiles department, Chandranath Sinha, is yet to submit relevant documents to the defence counsel as sought by the latter.

Sources aware of the development said the process of framing charges was to happen at the special court of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Kolkata on Monday.

However, the minister’s counsel informed the court that the ED is yet to submit the documents sought by the defence counsel in the matter. On these grounds, the defence counsel sought to keep the process of charge-framing on hold till the ED submits the relevant documents, and so that the defence counsel could prepare for the argument.

Based on the submission of the defence counsel, the judge of the special court directed the ED to submit those documents by March 13, following which the process of framing charges will start.

After his name was implicated in the primary teacher recruitment scam, the ED conducted a search operation at Chandranath’s residence in Bolpur in March 2024. The central investigation agency then seized Rs 41 lakh in cash. It also filed a charge sheet against him in the primary teacher recruitment scam case.

On September 6 last year, Sinha surrendered before the special ED court and was granted bail.

Again, in January this year, ED informed about the seizure of assets worth Rs 3.60 crore owned by Sinha. A total of 10 properties owned by the minister, his wife, and his son were confiscated by the ED, and the total market value of the properties is around Rs 3.60 crore.

In its charge sheet, the ED claimed that the minister recommended a total of 159 ineligible candidates for jobs of primary teachers, and on average, he collected Rs 8,00,000 from each of these candidates.

To recall, West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose had approved the ED’s charge sheet against Sinha in August last year.

The ED officials first secured the name of the Minister from the diary of the middleman and suspended Trinamool Congress leader Kuntal Ghosh, who was later arrested by the central agency officials.

–IANS

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