Now the income tax department will also investigate the teacher appointment corruption case

Kolkata, July 04 (HS). The Income Tax Department has decided to start an investigation under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition Act) in the West Bengal school job scam. The main focus of the investigation of this corruption case worth hundreds of crores of rupees is on former West Bengal Education Minister and Trinamool Congress General Secretary Partha Chatterjee and his close associate Arpita Mukherjee.

The Benami Transactions (Prohibition Act) makes financial transactions illegal in which property is transferred to one person while payment is made by someone else. Sources said the Income Tax Department wants to initiate this new line of investigation by questioning Arpita Mukherjee, who is currently lodged in a jail in south Kolkata.

Sources said the Income Tax Department has filed an application in a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Kolkata seeking permission to question him. Depending on further progress, Income Tax Department officials will file a similar application to question Partha Chatterjee, who is already in Presidency Jail in this case.

This fresh move comes after ED and CBI officials, during their probe into the case, identified several properties in the name of other people but payments were made by the former minister and his close aide.

Sources said the case is being investigated from different angles by the three central agencies. While the CBI is probing the criminal aspect, the ED is probing the money laundering angle and the Income Tax Department is looking into benami transactions.