Over three years after he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and then the CBI in connection with the alleged 2016 West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) scam, commonly referred to as the school jobs-for-cash scam, key accused and former West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee was released on bail on Tuesday.
Chatterjee is among other Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLAs like Manik Bhattacharya and Jiban Krishna Saha who are accused of discrepancies in the case.
The former minister faces charges of accepting bribes from ineligible candidates, conspiring with WBSSC officials, manipulating OMR sheets to place ineligible candidates on the merit list and appointing dummy directors in shell companies to launder the “ill-gotten” wealth.
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Here is a look at the status of the case:
What is the alleged WBSSC scam?
In 2016, the Bengal government held a recruitment exam – given by 23 lakh candidates – to fill up 24,640 posts in state-run and aided schools.
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The alleged scam came to light after the government issued appointment orders to 25,753 candidates, much higher than the advertised number. As the investigation into the matter threw light on several discrepancies, the appointments were challenged by several parties in the Calcutta High Court.
What did the HC say?
In November 2021, the Calcutta High Court directed the CBI to investigate the scam. The TMC government challenged the order before a Division Bench, which upheld it. The CBI subsequently began probing the case in 2022.
Who all were raided, arrested and summoned?
Following multiple rounds of interrogation, the ED arrested Chatterjee in July 2022. The ED, which was probing the money laundering angle in the case, on the same day raided two premises of an alleged aide of Chatterjee, Arpita Mukherjee, and recovered a huge amount of cash and jewellery. She was later arrested.
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A month later, the agency arrested Shanti Prasad Sinha, convenor of the special advisory committee in the SCC, and secretary of the state SSC Ashok Saha.
The CBI then arrested the Chairman of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE), Kalyanmoy Gangopadhyay, after several rounds of questioning, and Subiresh Bhattacharya, former WBSSC member and vice-chancellor of the University of North Bengal.
Palashipara MLA Manik Bhattacharya, the then chairman of the WBSSC, and local TMC youth leaders Kuntal Ghosh and Shantanu Bandyopadhyay were also arrested in October 2022, as was Jiban Krishna Saha in April 2023.
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May 2023 saw the arrest of TMC leader Sujay Krishna Bhadra and interrogation of TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in connection with the case. Jadavpur MP and then TMC student wing chief Saayoni Ghosh was summoned by the ED.
What was the case in the top court?
The Calcutta High Court declared the WBSSC results “null and void” on April 22, 2024. A week later, the state government moved the Supreme Court against the order.
The top court, while staying the CBI probe, refused to stay the High Court order on cancelling the exams. But later, on May 7, 2024, the apex court stayed the order invalidating the appointments. “Nothing remains if the faith of the public goes… What remains in the system if their appointments are also maligned? People will lose faith, how do you countenance this?” then Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud, who was heading the three-judge Bench hearing the case, had said.
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The court also slammed authorities for creating supernumerary posts and hiring waitlisted candidates when the process was in question. It also rebuked officials for the lack of proper record keeping and adequate data security protocols.
On August 30, 2024, in accordance with the top court’s directives, the WBSSC released the names and roll numbers of the 1,806 “tainted” candidates on its website.
Earlier in April this year, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of annulling the recruitment and ordered a fresh exam, following which the WBSSC announced the schedule to fill 25,726 posts of assistant teachers. The exam is yet to be held.
Which of the accused have got bail?
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The Calcutta High Court granted bail to Manik Bhattacharya in September 2024 while Jiban Krishna Saha was granted bail by the Supreme Court in May 2024. However, he continues to be in jail as he was arrested by the ED in connection with the case.
Arpita, Shantanu Bandopadhyay and Kuntal have been out on bail since November last year while Sinha is still behind bars. Bhadra’s interim bail, granted in February this year, has been extended.