KOLKATA: Former Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee and former West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) president Kalyanmoy Ganguly, both accused in the alleged scam relating to state-run school jobs, were on Friday remanded in CBI custody till September 21.
The central agency told the court that 400 recommendations for non-teaching staff appointments in state-run primary schools had come from Chatterjee, who was the "mastermind of the scam".
Soon after additional district judge Saikh Kamal Uddin rejected Chatterjee's bail plea and passed the order in the afternoon, the CBI took Chatterjee and Ganguly from the Alipore court lockup to its headquarters at Nizam Palace for questioning.
The CBI, probing alleged irregularities in teachers' and non-teaching staff appointments, had sought Chatterjee's custody to question him, based on recorded statements of two School Service Commission (SSC) officials: former adviser Santi Prasad Sinha and former secretary Ashok Kumar Saha, both in their custody.
The CBI counsel submitted that it wanted to question Chatterjee alongside Ganguly, Sinha and Saha. He also told the court that Chatterjee had formed a nexus with a section of SSC officials and other influential people, contending that questioning Chatterjee was crucial in order for the investigators to identify and apprehend other influential people involved.
Didn't sign any letter personally: WBBSE former president
Former education minister Partha Chatterjee's counsel, Sk Salim Rahman, contended that the CBI's argument - questioning Chatterjee was crucial to their probe - was a ploy to keep his client in lockup, as there was a possibility that he might be granted bail from the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) 60-day custody.
Rahman submitted that the SSC and the primary TET were two autonomous bodies and Chatterjee hadn't interfered in their functioning.
Chatterjee was scribbling in a notebook while his counsel was making his submission. Later, he sought the court's permission to make a submission and prayed for bail on health grounds. "I am very sick. I have to take 28 medicines a day. Please grant me bail on conditions you may decide," he said. Chatterjee also informed the court that he was a Ramakrishna Mission student, apart from being an MBA and a PhD. "I come from a respectable, educated family. My parents and my relatives are highly educated," he said, indicating that he wouldn't avoid probe, were he to be be given bail.
Former WBBSE president Kalyanmoy Ganguly told the court that the signatures on the recruitment letters were all scanned signatures. "I didn't personally sign any of them. I neither took a written test of the candidates, nor did I interview them," Ganguly submitted. The Calcutta High Court appointed committee led by retired high court judge Ranjit Kumar Bag had earlier named Ganguly in its court report. The committee had pointed out that Ganguly, as WBBSE president, had ordered programme officers Samarjit Acharya and Parna Bose to prepare "fake appointment letters". The committee had also recommended drawing up proceedings against him under sections relating to cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy.
