Teacher recruitment scam: CBI submits charge sheet mentioning West Bengal minister Partha's name

KOLKATA: The CBI on Friday submitted its first charge sheet in a case related to irregularities in recruitment in group C posts through the School Service Commission (SSC) mentioned the name of former minister Partha Chatterjee and 15 others, including top officials of the education department, as an accused.

Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) submitted its charge sheet in connection with an alleged money laundering case related to the irregularities in the recruitment of teachers in schools mentioning Chatterjee as the mastermind behind the malpractice.

The charge sheet mentioned the names of the former chairman of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education Kalyanmoy Ganguly Shanti Prasad Sinha, the former advisor of the SSC, and Ashoke Saha and former SSC secretary along with others.

Chatterjee, who is presently in judicial custody, was arrested in July along with his close aide Arpita Mukherjee after recovering cash of Rs 49.8 crore from her two apartments. The volume of money is said to be the proceeds of the alleged crime.  

Shortly after his arrest, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee relieved Chatterjee, once third-in-command in the TMC, of his duties as a minister-in-charge of several heavyweights portfolios, including commerce and industries. The CBI is also probing into the alleged scams in the recruitment of teachers through the SSC.