Kolkata: The purported middleman, arrested by the CBI for his alleged involvement in the multi-crore West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment scam, has made some startling revelations during his interrogation on how information technology entities owned by him were utilised in facilitating the scam, officials said.
Pradip Singh has also informed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths that this forging of documents was mainly done under the instructions of Santi Prasad Sinha, former convener of the screening committee of WBSSC, deemed to be the epicenter of the scam. Both Sinha and former WBSSC Secretary, Ashok Saha are currently in CBI custody.
A CBI source said that Singh used to own two computer and software outfits, the first being at Naktala in south Kolkata and the other at Salt Lake in the northern outskirts of Kolkata. The one at Naktala was at stone’s throw distance from the ancestral residence of former West Bengal Education Minister, Partha Chatterjee, who is currently in judicial custody.
“In interrogations, Singh has confessed that the interaction between him and Sinha in the matter happened through a number of fake email ids of both. He has also given us the details of those fake email ids, which gives clear hints about the modus operandi of the scam,” a CBI official said.
After conducting raid and search operations at these outfits owned by Singh, the CBI sleuths have recovered a number of counterfeit marksheets and counterfeit admit cards. The CBI is trying to track whether the names in the marksheets and admit cards are currently employed as teachers in any state-run schools or not. Now, the CBI is considering interrogating Singh and Sinha together by placing them face-to-face.
Before arrest, the CBI sleuths also conducted raid and search operations at Sinha’s residence at Survey Park in south Kolkata, where from the sleuths seized incriminating documents hinting towards his direct involvement in the scam.
The Calcutta High Court-appointed judicial committee headed by Justice Ranjit Kumar Bag (retired) in its report had also held Sinha directly responsible for the scam. In fact, that judicial committee report acted as the pillar for a bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay to order a CBI probe in the multi-crore scam.
Meanwhile, sources said that the CBI sleuths are considering interrogating Partha Chatterjee and his aide Arpita Mukherjee in the matter and for that purpose they have already coordinated with their counterparts in Enforcement Directorate (ED) regarding the findings of the latter in the matter.
“Till now the two had been mainly handled by our friends in ED. But we too have certain questions to ask them,” a CBI official said.
–IANS