Kolkata, Sep 20 (IANS) The key hearing in the multi-crore cash-for-school-jobs scam in West Bengal has started at a PMLA court in Kolkata on Saturday afternoon.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has sought seven days of custody for West Bengal minister for Correction Services, as well as Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises and Textiles, Chandranath Sinha, an accused in the case.

The hearing has started with the ED counsel given the first opportunity to present the argument in the matter and substantiate the charges brought by the central agency against Sinha.

Later, Sinha’s counsel would present his counter-arguments in the matter, and finally, the court would decide whether ED’s plea for custody for Sinha would be granted or the latter’s interim bail would be extended.

On September 6, Sinha surrendered before the same PMLA court in connection with the ED’s probe into the alleged recruitment scam. The court later granted him interim bail on a personal bond of Rs 10,000, with certain conditions attached.

In his opening argument, the ED counsel argued that their officials could have arrested Sinha last year only when Rs 41 lakh of unaccounted cash and other supporting documents relating to his involvement in the school job case were found.

“However, our officials did not arrest him then, since they were waiting for further clues against him in the matter. Previously, we had sent notices to him seeking certain documents. He did not submit those documents then. However, he submitted the same documents within a day, when pressure started mounting on him,” the ED counsel claimed.

The ED counsel further said that Sinha is an influential person and can influence the process of investigation, and hence, his ED custody was essential.

Earlier this month, the ED submitted its sixth supplementary chargesheet to the special court, detailing financial irregularities in the accounts of Sinha and his family members.

The document highlighted a series of large, phased cash deposits made into a joint account held by the Minister and his wife, Kuntala Sinha, at a branch of a public sector bank in Kolkata.

According to the sixth supplementary chargesheet, a total of Rs 1.18 crore in cash was deposited into the joint account between January 2016 and November 2019 — identified as the peak period of the alleged school recruitment scam.

–IANS

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