Frequent replacement of WBSSC officials was Partha Chatterjee’s key strategy in recruitment scam: CBI sources

Kolkata Teacher Recruitment Scam: How Partha Chatterjee Used Transfers to Hide Irregularities

In a shocking twist to the West Bengal teacher recruitment scam, CBI sources have uncovered how former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee cleverly used frequent transfers of officials to pull off massive irregularities. This West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) scam has rocked the education sector, and new details show Chatterjee’s smart but shady tactics.

The WBSSC handles hiring teachers for secondary and higher secondary schools, plus non-teaching staff in Group-C and Group-D roles at government schools. Back in early 2023, the Supreme Court canceled the entire 2012 recruitment panel of 25,753 teachers due to widespread fraud. Now, the CBI’s investigation reveals Chatterjee built a secret system to dodge detection.

According to CBI insiders, Chatterjee set up a multi-layered team to manage the teacher recruitment irregularities smoothly. He started by picking a loyal core group of senior officials to run the show. This team included names like former West Bengal Board of Secondary Education president Kalyanmoy Gangopadhyay, ex-WBSSC chairman Subiresh Bhattacharya, screening committee head S.P. Sinha, former WBSSC secretary Ashok Saha, and staffers Samarjit Acharya and Parna Basu. Many of them already face charges in the WBSSC recruitment scam case.

To keep things under wraps, Chatterjee made sure junior officials who handled the dirty work—like faking data—got shuffled around often. This constant rotation in the WBSSC meant no one junior knew the full picture of the scam, making it harder for anyone to blow the whistle early.

A CBI source shared an interesting fact: "Chatterjee was known as a sharp HR expert before jumping into politics. Sadly, he turned that skill into a tool for this illegal WBSSC teacher recruitment fraud, delaying its exposure for years."

Partha Chatterjee has spent the most time behind bars among those nabbed in the case. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested him first in July 2022 for a parallel probe into the scam. The CBI followed suit soon after. While he recently got bail in most CBI and ED cases, Chatterjee still sits in jail over separate charges linked to primary teacher recruitment irregularities under the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE).

This ongoing investigation into the West Bengal teacher recruitment scam keeps revealing more layers of deceit. As the CBI digs deeper, it highlights the need for tighter checks in government hiring processes. Stay tuned for updates on this major education scandal.

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