The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has stepped up the investigation into the recruitment scam by conducting searches at multiple places in Kolkata and several districts in West Bengal over the past two days.
The central agency’s fresh impetus to the investigation comes at a time when Union Home Minister Amit Shah raked up the issue of recruitment scam during his two-day visit to West Bengal.
On Saturday, CBI conducted searches at six places in Kolkata as well as Purba Medinipur and Birbhum districts. Searches were held at the residence of Bibhas Chandra Adhikary, a former Trinamool Congress block president and Gopal Dalapati on Saturday.
“During the searches, several incriminating materials including the recruitment of primary teachers were recovered. It was alleged that the said persons had acted as a conduit between the other accused and the aspiring candidates in collecting money from the candidates and promising them jobs as primary teachers in the Primary Teachers Recruitment process – 2016,” the CBI said in a press statement on Saturday.
On Friday, when the Home Minister addressed a public rally and gave hints about a crackdown on the accused in the recruitment scam, the CBI held searches at the residence of Trinamool Congress MLA from Burwan, Jiban Krishna Saha. The agency in a press statement said that five bags of documents were recovered from bushes adjacent to the boundary wall of the residence of MLA Burwan.
“The alleged documents affixed with photographs of aspiring candidates who had submitted bribe money were recovered. It was alleged that the bribe collected from the candidates was estimated to be running into multiple crores,” the CBI said.
Mobile phones thrown in pond by MLA
Sources in the agency said that on Friday when officials tried to seize the mobile phones of the Burwan MLA, he threw it in a pond inside the premises of his residence. The CBI has installed pumps to pump out the water of the pond to recover the mobile phones. Scanning devices are also being used to locate the mobile phones.
More than 12 accused, including former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and officials of the State Education Department, are behind bars for their alleged involvement in the scam. The scam involves providing jobs in State-run schools illegally for monetary gains.
On Thursday, the Calcutta High Court directed that no police case will be registered against officials of the central agencies investigating the scam. Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had also noted in his order that the agencies may question Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in connection with the scam.
