Kolkata, Dec 27,2022: In an attempt to accelerate its pace in the ongoing probe in the multi-crore teachers’ recruitment scam in West Bengal, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is now in the process of shortlisting some college teachers, especially in the districts for integrating them in the matter.

Sources said that all these college teachers were extremely close either to the former state education minister and Trinamool Congress secretary general, Partha Chatterjee or to the former chairman of West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) and Trinamool Congress legislator, Manik Bhattacharya. Both these leaders are currently under judicial custody following their alleged links with the recruitment scam.

Sources said that investigations in the matter so far have hinted at the involvement of some of these college teachers as intermediaries in the irregularities. According to sources, the involvement of such college teachers in the process was mainly in two ways.

While one group was responsible for arranging recommendations from the local ruling party leaders for interested candidates from their known circles, the second group was responsible for communicating the masterminds of the recruitment process in West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC), WBBPE and other related departments under the state education department.

Sources said that the process of shortlisting of teachers to be summoned for interrogates, following which they will be summoned to the CBI’s office in Kolkata individually or in batches depending on their extent of involvement.

If necessary, the accounts and income tax returns files of such teachers and family members will be scrutinized to probe the disproportionate assets to income angle.

Already a political slugfest has started in West Bengal over the identification of the names of a Trinamool Congress councillor and the son of ruling party’s panchayat executive officer in the list of the 952 optical mark recognition (OMR) sheets published by WBSSC,. The OMR were allegedly tampered with to accommodate ineligible candidates as teachers in state-run schools.

On the other hand, the clock has started ticking for the 1,698 non-teaching staff in different state-run schools, who were found to have illegally secured jobs by the CBI and WBSSC. The state education department has directed the respective district inspectors of schools to intimate these non- teaching staff in their respective districts about the Calcutta High Court’s deadline to present their points of arguments in proving their innocence in the matter.