NEW DELHI: The CBI has recently submitted its third supplementary chargesheet in the cash-for-school job scam and named a certain Abhishek Banerjee who demanded Rs 15 crore for illegal appointments. An audio file of a recorded conversation from 2017 has also been referred to in the chargesheet. There is, however, no mention of Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Amid speculation over who the ‘Abhishek Banerjee’ mentioned in the chargesheet is, Banerjee’s lawyer Sanjay Basu said the claims in the chargesheet are misleading and unsubstantiated” and “nothing more than a fishing expedition aimed at harassing my client”.
What is the chargesheet with the name of ‘Abhishek Banerjee’ in it?
The 28-page charge sheet, as news agency PTI reported, was filed by the CBI on February 21. It indicts Sujay Krishna Bhadra (known as the ‘uncle of Kalighat’) and two others in connection with irregular appointments of teachers in state-run primary schools made through the selection process of Teachers Eligibility Test (TET), 2014.
The chargesheet claims a meeting was held in 2017 at Bhadra’s Behala residence where other accused Kuntal Ghosh and Shantanu Banerjee — also mentioned in the chargesheet were present. Two others — Aurobindo Roy Barman and Surajit Chanda — were also present and the audio recording was from the meeting.
“There was a rift between Abhishek Banerjee and accused Partha Chatterjee (then education minister) on the issue of illegal appointment and the accused Sujay Krishna Bhadra was heard saying that Abhishek Banerjee had demanded Rs 15 crore for the illegal appointment already done and when Sujay Krishna Bhadra express (sic) his inability to collect more money since the candidates had already paid Rs 6.50 lakhs each, then Abhishek Banerjee told Sujay to stop their appointment else he would get those candidates arrested or get the candidates posted at distant places,” the CBI said referring to the recorded conversation on page 15 of the chargesheet.
MP Abhishek Banerjee’s statement
TMC MP earlier appeared before the ED and the CBI in connection with the case. His lawyer said despite complying with all the summons of the agencies, the CBI has resorted to baseless allegations. “Despite my client’s full cooperation with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) – appearing whenever summoned and providing all necessary documents – the CBI has resorted to baseless allegations. Notably, the ED, responsible for investigating alleged proceeds of crime, has not filed any chargesheet against my client, underscoring the absence of incriminating material against him,” the statement read.
“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 added.