The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Saturday said it has provisionally attached five hotels/resorts, 120 land plots, and 29 flats/offices/shops worth Rs 163.20 crore while investigating the Group C and D staff recruitment scam under the West Bengal Central School Service Commission (WBCSSC).

According to ED, the attached properties were registered in the names of Prasanna Kumar Roy, his wife Kajal Soni Roy, and a company operated by Prasanna Roy.

Former Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee, several senior officials, and middlemen have been arrested by the ED and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with multiple school recruitment scams in Bengal.

Prasanna Roy, a close associate of Partha Chatterjee, was one of the alleged middlemen who facilitated the recruitment of undeserving candidates in exchange for money. He is currently in jail custody.

Releasing a statement, the ED said that CBI charge sheets have revealed that a total of 3,432 (1,125 for Group C and 2,307 for Group D) employees were appointed/recommended illegally by the “officials of WBCSSC in criminal conspiracy with others”.

The ED earlier attached properties worth Rs 230.6 crore in the Bengal assistant teachers recruitment scam and another Rs 151 crore in the primary teachers recruitment scam.

“The total attachment/seizure in Teachers Recruitment Scams including Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ Staff in the State of West Bengal so far stands at Rs. 544.8 Crore,” added the ED.