KOLKATA: Evidence has emerged about the involvement of Partha Chatterjee in more than one school recruitment scam, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Tuesday, the first day of the Trinamool Congress minister’s interrogation in the central agency’s custody.
The ED said it has recovered incriminating documents from Chatterjee’s south Kolkata residence during searches which indicate the former education minister’s involvement in the recruitment of teachers in primary school through the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), other than the alleged scam in recruitment of teachers and group D staff through the School Service Commission (SSC) in high schools.
“We found admit cards of candidates and results of applicants from Chatterjee’s residence,’’ said an ED official. Sources said a copy of revised results of the TET exam, 2012, was found at his house. “We have evidence to prove the revised results were prepared on the basis of recommendations and in exchange for money,’’ said an official.
The ED also found a letterhead of TMC’s former Moynaguri MLA, Anantadeb Adhikari, in which the names of five aspirants for jobs in schools were recommended. Adhikari admitted that he had recommended the names. “In 2016, during Chatterjee’s tenure as education minister, all MLAs in districts were asked to recommend names and that’s why I did it,’’ he said.
Among the items seized from Chatterjee’s house, ED has mentioned many properties in the name of Arpita Mukherjee, an aide of the leader, and firms suspected to be shell companies. Chatterjee, who underwent a medical examination at AIIMS, Bhubaneswar was brought to Kolkata after doctors found his health parameters normal.
‘Scam in primary school posts too’
ED said it has recovered papers from Partha Chatterjee’s house that indicate his involvement in the recruitment of teachers in primary school, besides the alleged scam in recruitment through SSC in high schools