A day after the arrests, the former chairman and advisor of the West Bengal School Service Commission were sent to CBI custody till 17 August. The developments came after the former West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee and his associate Arpita Mukherjee were arrested by ED in the scam. Former Chairman Ashok Saha and advisor Shanti Prasad Sinha were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday.
The fresh arrests again brought to light the nexus between bureaucrats and politicians in the multi-crore scam in the School Service Commission of the State. Earlier, the court sent the former minister and his associate to judicial custody till 18 August, after ₹50 crore in cash and a huge amount of gold was recovered from the apartments linked to Arpita Mukherjee. She is a close aide of Partha Chatterjee. Partha Chatterjee was Minister of Industries in Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government in West Bengal. At the time of the alleged scam, he was the state Education Minister. After his arrests, the TMC relieved him of all responsibilities and even suspended him from the party. The former minister has denied all the allegations and also claimed no connection with the money recovered by the Enforcement Directorate. He also indicated disappointment over his suspension from the party.
After the direction of the Calcutta High Court, CBI is probing irregularities in the recruitment of Group-C, Group-D staff as well as teachers in government schools. The direction came after the recommendation of the West Bengal School Service Commission.
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