KOLKATA: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday arrested vice chancellor of North Bengal University and former chairman of the School Service Commission (SSC) Subiresh Bhattacharya in connection with alleged recruitment scams in schools. Bhattacharya was arrested after being interrogated for over five hours at the central agency’s Nizam Palace office in Kolkata.
“We found Bhattacharya’s involvement in the irregularities when he was the chairman of the SSC. Durring the interrogation, he failed to come up with satisfactory explanations,’’ said a CBI official.Chatterjee was first arrested by the ED in July and the CBI took him in its custody two days ago and described him as the mastermind behind the recruitment scam.
The total number of arrests in the recruitment scam case has gone up to six, which include former TMC minister Partha Chatterjee.Last week, the CBI arrested the former chairman of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education Kalyanmoy Ganguly in connection with the recruitment scam. Earlier, the investigating agency arrested Shanti Prasad Sinha, the former advisor of the SSC, and Ashoke Saha and former SSC secretary Ashok Saha.
In another development, the ED on Monday submitted chargesheet mentioning the names of Chatterjee and his close aide Arpita Mukherjee, in court. Arpita was arrested after the agency recovered cash Rs 49.8 crore from her apartments. In the chargesheet, the ED mentioned about 103 properties suspected to be proceeds of the alleged scam.
“We mentioned about 35 bank accounts where Rs 8 crore was deposited. Besides, the recovery of gold valued Rs 5 crore. Our investigation revealed the involvement of Rs 149.8 crore which is proceeds of the crime,’’ said an ED official. The ED officials arrived at the court with two trunks stashed with documents related to the alleged recruitment scam in schools.
Sources in the CBI said during the course of interrogation on Monday, Chatterjee said he had signed the files related to recruitments which were sent to him by the officials of the department. “I had a limited role to play in the recruitment through the SSC. I relied on the officials of the education department,” the former TMC minister reportedly told the sleuths of the central agency. The central agency said it would interrogate the officials of the education department on the basis of Chatterjee’s claim.
The charge sheet was filed before a special court in Kolkata, under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), on the 58th day of the arrest of the two. The 172-page charge sheet was filed before the PMLA court at the Bankshall Court here against eight entities - Chatterjee, Mukherjee and six other companies that were allegedly found to have been floated in connection with the case, ED counsel Abhijit Bhadra said. According to the charge sheet, there are 43 witnesses in the case. The documents attached with the charge sheet run into as many as 146,043 pages, Bhadra stated.
First chargesheet filed
The chargesheet was filed before a special court in Kolkata, under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
172 page chargesheet was filed on the 58th day of the arrest of former WB minister Partha Chatterjee and his associate Arpita Mukherjee.
There are 43 witnesses in the case.
The documents attached with the chargesheet run into as many as 146,043 pages.