'Partha Chatterjee main culprit': CBI to stick to its stand during trials in all WBSSC scam cases

Kolkata, Sep 12 (IANS) Former West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee is the main culprit in all cases related to the alleged West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) scam, and the CBI will maintain its stand during the trial process, sources in the investigative agency said.

Already, the process of charge framing has been completed at a special CBI court in Kolkata for some of these cases related to the WBSSC scam, where 21 individuals, including Chatterjee, were referred to as accused.

On Friday, the process of charge framing will be completed at the same special court in some other cases related to the scam.

CBI sources said that in all the charge sheets and supplementary charge sheets filed by the central agency in all the cases related to the entire ambit of the alleged school-school scam, Chatterjee was identified by the investigating officials as the principal mastermind.

There are six broad categories in the entire ambit of the alleged school-job scam. The first, second, and third are the appointments for secondary, higher secondary, and upper-primary teachers conducted by WBSSC.

The fourth is the appointment of primary teachers by the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE), and the fifth and sixth categories are non-teaching staff in the Group-C and Group-D categories, also conducted by WBSSC.

"While the other accused in the case are involved in the irregularities for appointments in one or two of the six categories, Chatterjee has his footprints in recruitment irregularities in all six categories. That is why he had been identified as the overall mastermind in the entire ambit of the alleged school-job scam," said CBI sources.

In fact, Chatterjee had also been identified as the principal mastermind in almost all the charge sheets and supplementary charge sheets related to the scam filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which had been conducting a parallel probe in the school-job cases.

Among all the accused in the school-job cases, Chatterjee is the one who had been behind the bars for his involvement in the school-job case for the longest period.

He was arrested in July 2022 at his residence by officials of the ED. Later, he was also shown as arrested by the CBI.

Recently, he was granted bail by different courts in almost all the cases registered against him, both by CBI and ED, in the case. Yet, he could not manage himself out of judicial custody because of separate cases registered against him relating to irregularities in the recruitment of primary teachers appointed by the WBBPE.

--IANS

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