School Jobs Scam: CBI raids West Bengal University VC’s office

Kolkata: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday raided the office of North Bengal University (NBU) Vice-Chancellor Subires Bhattacharyya in Siliguri in connection with its probe into the school recruitment scam, and sealed his apartment in Kolkata.

Bhattacharyya’s name figured in the report of a committee formed by the Calcutta High Court, that stated that illegal appointments were made, on recommendations of the School Service Commission (SSC), in institutes run or aided by the West Bengal government in the past few years. Bhattacharyya was the SSC chairman between 2014 and 2018.

A 12-member CBI team raided the NBU vice-chancellor’s office in Siliguri, the largest town in the northern part of the state. "We have conducted raids and seized some documents and confiscated his mobile phone," a CBI official said.

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Another team sealed Bhattacharyya’s apartment in Bansdroni area of Kolkata. He now lives in Siliguri. Attempts to contact the NBU vice-chancellor failed.

The report submitted to the high court by Justice (retd) R K Bag-headed committee said that a five-member panel formed in 2019 by the Education Department, when senior Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjee held the portfolio, for monitoring recruitments of teaching and non-teaching staff did not have any legal validity.

The central investigating agency on August 10 arrested former SSC adviser Dr Shanti Prasad Sinha and its ex-secretary Ashok Kumar Saha, who were part of the panel. The then education minister Partha Chatterjee and his alleged close associate Arpita Mukherjee were earlier arrested by the Enforcement Department (ED) which is tracking the money trail in the scam.