The High Court of Calcutta has directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to remove Assistant Director Mithilesh Kumar Mishra from the Special Investigating Team (SIT) probing the teacher recruitment scam case in West Bengal.
The single-judge Bench of Justice Amrita Sinha ordered the Director of ED to immediately remove Mishra from the SIT on the grounds that he appeared not to have the competence to handle a case of such huge magnitude.
The High Court further directed the national agency on Friday to entrust the work of Mishra to some other ‘responsible’ officer.
The directions followed the personal appearance of Mishra before the Bench last week, wherein he gave ‘unsatisfactory’ answers to the questions asked by the Bench, especially, with regard to the assets of Trinamool Congress (AITC) leader Abhishek Banerjee, an accused in the case.
The judge, therefore, ordered the ED Director to remove him immediately from the SIT, adding that the said officer should not be entrusted to investigate any case arising in West Bengal.
After the bench dictated its order, Deputy Solicitor General Dhiraj Trivedi, submitted that the ED officer is responsible enough but would have lacked confidence to speak in front of the judge.
The Bench responded that If an ED officer did not have confidence, how would he handle the investigation in a case of such a tune.
It noted that the court has lost confidence in Mishra. He will have to go, let someone else come in his place, it added.