ED quizzes Bengal min for 5 hrs in cash-for-jobs case
Times of India | 26 September 2025's (ED) plea to interrogate Chandranath Sinha in custody, the state prisons minister was questioned by the agency for nearly five hours on Thursday.
Sinha was quizzed primarily about his properties and the money deposited in his account.
Sinha — who was asked to join the investigation by the court — reached ED's CGO complex office in Salt Lake at 11am. ED officials — armed with statements from Tapas Kumar Mandal, one of the key accused in the case —started questioning Sinha about the 159 candidates allegedly referred by him.
During Mandal's interrogation, ED officials came across Bolpur resident Pipuluddin Sheikh and his teachers' training institute.
Later, when Sheikh was questioned, he said he was running AR Teachers' Training Institute since 2012. He referred 22 candidates to Mandal and collected more than Rs 52 lakh from them. Out of these 22 candidates, three got jobs as primary teachers.
ED also questioned Sinha about the cash deposits in his bank account and the accounts of his family members. Sleuths have reasons to believe that there was a significant increase in cash during 2022-23 and 2023-24, as reflected in his financial statements.
They also raised questions about the income tax return filed by his wife Kuntala.
Sinha told officials that the amount in his account, including the cash worth Rs 41 lakh seized from his house during an ED raid, was from agricultural income. He added that the work at the agricultural firms was supervised by him and his cousin. ED officials also questioned Sinha about a construction firm, BK Construction. Sinha's wife was allegedly a director in the firm.
"He has cooperated with the agency all along. The documents the agency wanted to see have been submitted. They needed some clarification on the transactions. Sinha will always cooperate with the investigation," Sinha's lawyer Sanjib Dan said.
