Subires Bhattacharyya, vice-chancellor of North Bengal University and former chairman of the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC), was arrested by the CBI on Monday.
CBI officers said Bhattacharyya had been arrested in connection with allegedly illegal appointment of assistant teachers for classes IX and X of government-aided schools by the school service commission when he was its chairman.
He has been charged under the Indian Penal Code sections on cheating and criminal conspiracy, and also under the Prevention of Corruption Act. If the charges are proved, Bhattacharya can be sent to jail for up to seven years.
“It has been alleged that the accused was involved in the manipulation of scores of various candidates before the preparation of the panel (of selected candidates). Also, the accused, in conspiracy with others, had allegedly obtained undue advantage to facilitate illegal appointment of undeserving and unlisted candidates as assistant teachers for classes IX and X in various schools across the state,” said a CBI officer.
Bhattacharyya will be produced in court on Tuesday. A team of CBI officers visited his Bansdroni home in south Kolkata on Monday and questioned him for several hours.
A CBI officer said he did not “cooperate” with the agency. Bhattacharyya, who was chairman of the commission from 2014 to 2018, was taken to the Nizam Palace office of the CBI.
Many in West Bengal’s academic circles failed to recall the last time a vice-chancellor was arrested.
Sleuths said the case in which Bhattacharyya was arrested was registered on April 7, 2022. S.P. Sinha, former adviser to the school service commission, is an accused in the case.
On August 24, a 12-member team of the investigating agency reached the North Bengal University campus, on the outskirts of Siliguri, and questioned him for around nine hours in connection with the recruitments.
A report by a high court-appointed committee has said Bhattacharyya had “usurped the power and authority of the Regional Commissions by counselling the candidates....”