Arrested Trinamul MLA Manik Bhattacharya, a former chairman of the West Bengal Primary Education Board, has two passports and both are “valid”, the CBI told Calcutta High Court on Wednesday.
“How is it possible?” Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the high court asked in open court after hearing the submission of CBI counsel.
“Why he (Bhattacharya) is not resigning from the post of MLA? What will didi (chief minister Mamata Banerjee) do alone when corrupt people like Manik Bhattacharya are surrounding her?”
Justice Gangopadhyay told the CBI lawyer: “I have some information in this matter. I told you earlier that I should have conducted the probe, instead of the CBI.”
The judge said: “I have definite information that Manik Bhattacharya has a house in London. I can also tell the name of the owner of the building adjoining Manik Bhattacharya’s house in London.”
Then the judge smilingly said: “Some people call me Phantom. They should give me flowers.”
During the hearing of the case related to irregularities in the recruitment of primary school teachers, CBI counsel told the judge that the central agency had made “good progress” in the investigation in the past two weeks.
“The CBI has found that Manik Bhattacharya has two passports. Both are valid,” the lawyer said.
Justice Gangopadhyay said: “This state will be destroyed because of such people. I recall a song by Bhupen Hazarika ‘haajar takar bagan khailo panch shiker chhagole (a garden worth a thousand rupees has been destroyed by a goat worth Rs 1.25).”
In response to an order by the judge on Tuesday, the CBI lawyer submitted the names of three officers, one of whom will take over as investigating officer of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that is probing allegedly illegal appointments for government-aided primary schools.
Two of the three officers are Angshuman Saha and Biswanath Chakrabarty.
The selected person will replace CBI officer Somnath Biswas, who was removed from the SIT by Justice Gangopadhyay on Tuesday.
The judge said he would decide on Thursday which officer would replace Biswas.
Justice Gangopadhyay had on Tuesday rapped the CBI for its “failure” to conduct a proper probe into allegedly illegal recruitment of primary school teachers.
OMR sheets
An allegation was made before the judge on Wednesday that the primary education board had destroyed the OMR sheets of the candidates who had appeared in the 2017 Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET).
After hearing the allegation, Justice Gangopadhyay issued an order asking board officials to produce the answer scripts of the candidates in the court on Thursday.
The judge also asked the board members to be present in court during the next hearing.
“The results of the 2017 TET were published on January 22. How can the board destroy the OMR sheets so early?” Justice Gangopadhyay said while issuing the order.