Teachers’ scam: CBI seals records storeroom of Bengal education dept

Kolkata: Bikash Bhawan, the headquarters of the West Bengal education department, has now come under the scanner of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which is probing the multi-crore teachers’ recruitment irregularities scam.

In a late evening operation at Bikash Bhawan on Friday, a team of CBI officials searched the state education minister’s office situated at 5th floor of the building.

Sources said that although the State Education Minister Bratya Basu’s room in the floor was spared, the computers in the room opposite to it were checked for hours.

Some staff and officers of the education minister’s office were also questioned.

Later, the investigation officers went to the record storeroom of the office of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) and scanned the paper documents as well as hard-disc records stored there. After spending over an hour there, they left but only after sealing the records storeroom.

Incidentally, the former president of WBBSE, Kalyanmoy Ganguly is already in judicial custody in connection to the scam in the state. CBI has also identified him as one of the key conspirators in the scam.

The development took place just a couple of hours after Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the Calcutta High Court ordered termination of services of 53 primary teachers employed with different state-run schools.

Reacting to it, the leader of the Opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, called it just the beginning and added that in the next few days, the number will rise to over 25,000.