Primary teacher recruitment scam: Set up SIT led by joint director, HC tells CBI

The court also directed that the SIT members cannot be transferred until the conclusion of the probe.

A single judge bench of Abhijit Gangopadhyay, in his order on Wednesday, said the SIT would not investigate any other case and the joint director cannot be transferred without a court order.

After Gangopadhyay expressed doubts over the CBI probe on Tuesday, the CBI told the court on Wednesday that its joint director had been brought in from Delhi only to investigate alleged corruption in the recruitment process of teachers. However, the judge again expressed doubts whether the main culprits would be caught after the CBI probe.

Appearing before the court, former state minister and former additional director of the CBI, Upen Biswas recommended the formation of a CBI SIT to investigate the case. It was Biswas who flagged“irregularities” in the recruitment process, alleging that one Ranjan, who is from Bagda in North 24 Parganas district, was into the business of “selling jobs of primary school teachers.”

Biswas was made a party respondent in the case over a social media post by him.

Following Biswas’s suggestion, the court on Wednesday directed that the CBI should set up an SIT to investigate two cases of “irregularities” in the appointment of primary teachers.

The court will monitor the probe, Gangopadhyay said, adding that he wished that persons who were denied jobs should get them and the “kingpins” should be arrested.

Expressing hope that CBI will record noticeable advancement in the investigation, in which appointment of 269 primary teachers were found to be illegal, Justice Gangopadhyay said that he is not happy with the progress of probes in other cases in which he had ordered the agency to investigate.

Justice Gangopadhyay had earlier ordered CBI probe in at least eight cases of alleged illegalities in the appointment of teaching and non-teaching staff by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education in government sponsored and aided schools on the recommendations of West Bengal School Service Commission.