In the midst of the teacher’s scandal, Tollywood actor Bonny Sengupta admits to collecting a sizable sum from Trinamool Party politician Kuntal Ghosh.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) informed the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court here on Friday that a significant portion of the multi-crore scam’s proceeds were invested in the Tollywood film industry. The scam involved the hiring of teaching and non-teaching staff in various state-run schools in West Bengal.
As much as Rs 6.50 crore, according to ED Counsel Phiroze Edulji, was transferred to several Tollywood stars and actresses from two bank accounts owned by expelled and detained Trinamool Party youth leader Kuntal Ghosh over time.
One of these Tollywood actors, Bonny Sengupta aka Anupiryo Sengupta, acknowledged to collecting Rs 40 lakh from Ghosh to buy a car, and by late Thursday night, he had already paid back that sum to the ED.
Nevertheless, except from Bonny Sengupta, no other actor or actress who has accepted payment from Kuntal Ghosh has offered a comment on this matter. According to sources, the investigators from the central agency would call them in the upcoming days to question them.
Kuntal Ghosh had not provided a firm response on this issue, according to ED counsel, despite being asked for the source of such enormous cash numerous times.
Even the special court’s judge was overheard instructing Kuntal Ghosh’s attorney that his client needed to reveal the sources of the erroneous funds in his bank account. “The entire money does not become lawful if one gets Rs 5 crore through illicit methods and then pays tax on Rs 2 crore,” the judgement noted.
In the meantime, the ED has already frozen 10 bank accounts belonging to Ghosh and 15 bank accounts belonging to another ejected and detained young Trinamool politician, Santanu Bandopadhyay, from which ED investigators discovered transactions totaling several crores of rupees.
The special court finally prolonged Ghosh’s judicial detention until March 30 after hearing arguments on both sides.
