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After the single-judge bench of Calcutta High Court ordered the removal of an ED officer from a case pertaining to the teachers' recruitment 'scam', citing "lack of confidence", senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said when the court, last, directed the concerned officerto file the asset statements of Leaps and Bounds, he had given a list of "frivolous" assets given by the lawyer of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek Banerjee.
The officer's name was mentioned in the latest summons issued to Abhishek in connection with the teachers' recruitment 'scam'. The TMC leader has been asked to appear before the central agency on October 3. Mishra was the investigating officer in the recruitment 'scam' case involving the TMC leader. "Today, Justice Amrita Sinha, while hearing a petition on the employment scam in West Bengal, passed two important directions...Firstly, Mithelesh Mishra, who was in charge of the investigation, has been removed as, on the last occasion, when the court directed him to file the asset statements of Leaps and Bounds and its directors and officers, he had given a list of assets that were frivolous," Bhattacharya told ANI on Friday. The senior advocate claimed that Mishra had admitted before the court that he had given the asset statements based on a letter written by Abhishek Banerjee's lawyer. "In court, he admitted that he had given the list of assets on the basis of a letter written by a lawyer of Abhishek Banerjee. This was absolutely irresponsible behaviour. Had the bench not gone into the report, it would have gone into the court's records," Bhattacharya said. He added that Mishra's admissions in court show that his conduct while leading the probe lacked the "intelligence and response" that should behove an investigating officer. "Even in court, his reactions were pathetic. They did not demonstrate the intelligence and response that he should have shown as the investigating officer. Therefore, the court, today asked the (ED) director to remove Mr. Mishra from the investigation in (the teachers' recruitment case) in West Bengal and directed that he be deployed in some other state," the senior advocate said. Claiming that the ED was dragging its feet in the ongoing probe into the teachers' recruitment 'scam', the CPI(M) leader said, "The delay in the probe will help the miscreants influence other persons and destroy evidence. As we put forward our concerns regarding the delay in the probe, the court said the schedule fixed by the Enforcement Directorate in this case should remain unaltered and the investigation should be carried out expeditiously." (ANI)
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