The high court on Friday rapped the CBI for its delay in completing the probe into the alleged links of former state education minister Partha Chatterjee, Trinamul MLA Jiban Krishna Saha and others with irregularities in the recruitment of teachers and other staff for government-aided schools.
“Does your client remember that Lalu Prasad (former chief minister of Bihar) was granted bail in the fodder scam case because of the many delays in the investigation against him on the part of the CBI?” Justice Joymalya Bagchi told the lawyer representing the central agency during a hearing of the bail pleas moved by Chatterjee, Saha and others.
The pleas were being heard by a division bench headed by Justice Bagchi.
Counsel for the CBI told the court that the Bengal governor had given his assent to the CBI to investigate the role of the minister in three cases of job irregularities.
“The investigators have obtained approval from the Assembly Speaker to probe the role of MLA Jiban Krishna Saha. But the state chief secretary is yet to give his consent for the probe against Subires Bhattacharya (a former chairman of the school service commission and vice-chancellor of North Bengal University) and other accused,” the lawyer submitted in the court.
Justice Bagchi then said: “When the probe is being conducted based on a high court order, why is it necessary to take approvals?”
He then issued an order asking the chief secretary to file an affidavit stating when he would give his approval.
While hearing a different case on March 11, Justice Bagchi had questioned why the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had failed to collect enough evidence against two accused in the job scam — Kuntal Ghosh and Niladri Ghosh — for a trial to start.
“How long can a court detain an accused for irregularities?” Justice Bagchi had asked.
Chatterjee was arrested by the ED on July 22, 2022, and by the CBI on September 16, 2022.
A chargesheet filed by the CBI against Chatterjee mentions IPC sections on cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and common intention and sections under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2018.
The ED’s chargesheet mentions sections under the money laundering act.
In the same year, the CBI arrested Bhattacharya, former secondary education board president Kalyanmoy Ganguly and other officials associated with the commission and the board.
Trinamul MLA Saha was arrested by the CBI in April 2023 at his house in Murshidabad.
