Security personnel stand in front of CBI office in Kolkata,. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday carried out searches at seven places, including at the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) office and the houses of its former and incumbent presidents, here in connection with their ongoing probe into the alleged irregularities in the Primary Teachers Eligibility Test (TET).
According to CBI sources, the sleuths seized incriminating materials, electronic evidence and other material during the searches.
A team of ten CBI sleuths searched the house of WBBPE’s former president Manik Bhattacharya, who is also an MLA of the ruling Trinamool Congress, said CBI sources.
CBI sources said that not only Bhattacharya’s house, but one of the CBI teams, accompanied by CISF personnel, is also conducting a search operation at the residence of incumbent board president Ratna Chakrabarty Bagchi in connection with the case.
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CBI officers are interacting with family members of Bhattacharya and Bagchi as well as conducting necessary searches there, said a CBI officer.
According to sources, eight CBI teams comprising 50 members conducted search operations at various locations in and around the city since Thursday morning.
The Calcutta High Court had ordered a CBI probe into the alleged corruption in the appointment of primary teachers.
The court had directed that, if necessary, the CBI could take the president of the primary education board into custody and interrogate him. Following the court order, Bhattacharya visited the CBI office and was questioned for about three and a half hours.
During a hearing in the case on June 21, the High Court directed Bhattacharya to furnish the details of his entire assets within two weeks. Bhattacharya moved to the division bench challenging the single bench directive. Now, the case is being heard by the division bench.
Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had on June 14 directed the central investigation agency to file an FIR and initiate an investigation into the alleged illegal recruitment of teachers by the board based on the TET in 2014.
The CBI had registered a case on June 9th against an accused and unknown office bearers of WBBPE & unknown others on the allegations that a number of failed / ineligible candidates were given appointment as assistant teachers in primary schools illegally through the TET 2014.
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