Calcutta HC issues guidelines for media coverage on Bengal recruitment scam

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday issued guidelines for media coverage on Trinamool Congress General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee and other similarly placed suspects in the recruitment scam.

The Court said that media's reporting should be objective, and clearly demarcate news items from opinion pieces, without casting anonymous aspersions on accused persons.

The High Court also directed the Enforcement Directorate not to reveal details of suspects before filing charge sheets, or supply details of interrogations and raids to media.

Both the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have issued summons to Abhishek Banerjee. The alleged scam involved appointments as teachers and non-teaching staff in State-run schools via illegal means.

Assets worth more than Rs 126 crore have been attached in this case till now.

ED has also arrested former West Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee, his alleged aide Arpita Mukherjee, TMC MLA and the ex-president of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education Manik Bhattacharya, TMC youth wing leaders Kuntal Ghosh and Santanu Banerjee, Ayan Sil in this case where it has filed a total of five charge sheets under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Partha Chatterjee was also suspended by the TMC after his arrest by the ED.

In pursuance of a summons, Abhishek Banerjee on September 13 appeared before the ED office in Kolkata in connection with the case.

The summons to the TMC MP came weeks after the central probe agency conducted raids in the office of 'Leaps and Bounds Pvt Ltd' which the federal agency alleged was "used for making dubious transactions running into crores of rupees."

The ED claimed that Banerjee is the chief executive officer of the company.

The ED had also questioned Rujira Banerjee, wife of Abhishek Banerjee, on October 11 in connection with the alleged irregularities in recruitments in state-aided schools.

It was the first time that the ED asked Rujira to appear for questioning in the teachers' recruitment scam case. Earlier, she was interrogated in connection with alleged money laundering related to coal pilferage.