Abhishek Banerjee Slams CBI Bribery Charges in Teachers’ Recruitment Scam

Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's MP nephew Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday accused the CBI of “harassing” him after his name was apparently referred in its third supplementary chargesheet in the government school teachers’ recruitment scam. In the chargesheet submitted to a city court on February 21, the CBI stated, “There was a rift between Abhishek Banerjee and accused Partha Chatterjee 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 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.” According to the CBI, “It was also revealed that Sujay Krishna Bhadra, Santanu Banerjee and Kuntal Ghosh were planning for a collection of a bribe amount from additional 2000 candidates, for their appointment, to the tune of Rs 100 crore for paying off Shri Partha Chatterjee, Shri Abhishek Banerjee and Shri Manik Bhattacharya Rs 20 crore each and sharing the remaining amount among themselves.” Reacting to these claims, Mr Banerjee’s counsel Sanjay Basu said, “This statement is issued on behalf of my client, Shri Abhishek Banerjee, in response to the misleading and unsubstantiated claims made in the latest CBI chargesheet regarding the alleged teacher recruitment case in West Bengal and certain media reports.” He alleged, “Despite my client's full cooperation with the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation appearing whenever summoned and providing all necessary documents the CBI has resorted to baseless allegations. This is yet another instance of my client being unjustly targeted.” “Previously, the ED attempted to implicate Shri Abhishek Banerjee, but the Hon'ble Calcutta High Court ruled against it, finding no material evidence. The CBI's politically motivated narrative is a blatant attempt to tarnish Shri Abhishek Banerjee's reputation.