Kolkata, Feb 8,2023: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) told a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court here on Wednesday that the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets with special symbolic codes besides just two questions in the entire answer sheet were used in the primary teachers’ recruitment written examination which were “the root of the entire scam” related to the recruitment process.

Hearing on the bail application of Trinamool Congress legislator and the former president of West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) Manik Bhattacharya on Wednesday, the ED counsel told the court that the candidates paying money for recruitment as primary teachers in the state-run schools were asked to answer only those two questions with the special codes and keep the remaining questions unanswered.

The OMR sheets where only those two questions with codes were answered were indications to the main brains behind the scam that the candidates concerned had paid money and hence should be recommended for recruitment. The ED counsel also said that Manika Bhattacharya and arrested youth Trinamool Congress leader Kuntal Ghosh were the main brains in working out this strategy in this scam.

“Once West Bengal was considered as the best in the country for its rich education system. But the current situation is such that the student community are scared to study in the state and hence they are moving out to other states for higher studies. The manner in which Manik Bhattacharya and Kuntal Ghosh had conspired in the matter is equivalent to that of murder,” the ED counsel said.

He also told the court that this system of forgery was adopted in the recruitment of primary teachers both in 2012 and 2014.