School jobs case: CBI charge sheet details money paid by four teachers sent to judicial custody

Kolkata: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has mentioned in its charge sheet the details of money paid for teaching job by four teachers in state-run schools in West Bengal, who were remanded to judicial custody on Monday by a special PMLA court.

As per the central agency records, the four teachers paid money mainly through the two accused in the ‘cash for school job’ case — Tapas Mondal and Kuntal Ghosh — both of whom are currently in judicial custody.

Meanwhile, the CBI summoned seven other teachers employed in different state-run schools who allegedly secured teaching jobs by paying money for questioning on Tuesday. All the seven teachers are from Bankura district.

The four teachers — Zahiruddin Sheikh, Saigar Hossain, Simor Hossain and Samar Mondal — who were remanded to judicial custody on Monday are from Murshidabad district.

Sources said that in the coming days, similar ineligible teachers getting teaching jobs against money from other districts will also be summoned for questioning.

All the seven primary teachers who are being questioned by the CBI were candidates in the 2014 Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET). As per CBI’s direction, they arrived at the central agency’s Nizam Palace office on Tuesday with the relevant documents such as their education qualification certificates, caste certificates and TET admit cards, among others.

On Monday, special PMLA court judge Arpan Chattopadhyay had observed that those who paid cash for job should not be treated as witnesses as done by the CBI before, rather they should be treated as accused.

Describing such teachers as the roots of this corruption, the judge also observed that they voluntarily went to the fixers with cash.

–IANS