Teachers' scam: ED tracking Kuntal Ghosh's journey from 'pauper to millionaire'

Kolkata, Feb 6

As Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths go deeper into the involvement of arrested Trinamool Congress youth leader Kuntal Ghosh in the multi-crore teachers' recruitment scam in West Bengal, they are surprised at how methodically Ghosh invested his share in the scam proceeds to make his journey from a pauper to a multi-millionaire.

According to ED sources, till 2012 Ghosh was an ordinary real-estate and land deal broker in Hooghly district and was not involved in any kind of political activities in his locality. However, his life took a U-turn by the end of 2012 when he opened a school, which is now being run by a trustee board of members who are close confidants both to him and the ruling Trinamool Congress.

At the same time while the former West Bengal education minister and Trinamool Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee was the party's observer for Hooghly district, Ghosh came closer to him and from there started his meteoric rise, according to ED sources.

Somewhat that time, Ghosh opened his own Elementary Education (D.El.ED) college, which according to ED sources, became a supply line for ineligible candidates willing to pay out hefty amounts for getting primary teachers' jobs in the state-run schools.

"However, Ghosh seems to be quite methodical in parking his share in the scam proceeds in such a way that will help him in multiplying his investments made on this count. He made substantial investments behind the improvement of infrastructure of his D.El.ED college and in making propaganda of his college's success in guaranteeing teaching jobs. This was done to attract more such candidates who were willing to pay for getting jobs," an ED associate said.

At the same time, sources said, understanding that he should park his share in the scam proceeds in other avenues as well, Ghosh started investing heavily in film production. He opened his own production house which was involved in production of OTT web-series in Bengali. Apart from that he started investing in the mushrooming real-estate business in the outskirts of Kolkata.

It is learnt that the ED sleuths are currently concentrating on examining his multiple bank accounts and the transactions made from there to have a clear idea about the money-trail on this count.