The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate filed reports in the high court on Tuesday with updates on their investigations into alleged irregularities in recruitment of primary teachers through the 2014 Teachers’ Eligibility Test.
Both reports were handed to Justice Amrita Sinha. The judge did not go through them in detail on Tuesday and fixed the matter for hearing around 3.30pm on Wednesday.
Counsel representing the ED informed the court that SSKM had allowed them to send a team to conduct a voice test on Sujay Krishna Bhadra, an accused.
The judge asked the ED to ensure the virtual presence of a member of that team during Wednesday’s hearing.
Advocate Billwadal Bhattacharya, who appeared for the CBI, submitted that according to the investigation, a firm named S Basu Roy and Company allegedly played a “key role” in the recruitment irregularities.
“Initially, S Basu Roy and Company was only a chartered accountancy firm which suddenly turned into a company preparing OMR sheets and got involved in other processes that were followed for hiring teachers in schools in 2014,” Bhattacharya said.
The lawyer also informed the court that it had emerged that all employees of the firm were changed in 2014.
“After interrogating Kaushik Majhi, a partner of the company (S Basu Roy and Company) who was arrested by the CBI and is in jail now, the names of more persons who were involved in the alleged crime have emerged,” Bhattacharya said.
The lawyer also informed the court that the name of the mastermind, on whose instructions S Basu Roy and Company had allegedly acted, was also mentioned in the report.
Appearing for the ED, advocate Dhiraj Trivedi submitted that the progress of the probe into this case depended on the investigation by the CBI.
“The salient feature of the report submitted by the ED today is based on the action the agency had taken on the basis of information provided by the CBI,” Trivedi said.
After hearing both sides, Justice Sinha said: “Let me peruse the reports. The case will be heard by the court again tomorrow.”
BJP plea
A petition was moved by BJP lawyers alleging that Bhadra was not cooperating with the probe agencies. The division bench headed by Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam scheduled the hearing on the matter for Thursday.