A single-bench judge of the high court, who had on Wednesday complained against a division bench that had stayed many of his rulings, ordered a CBI probe on Thursday in a case and asked the agency to question the accused by midnight.
Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay’s order for the quick interrogation robbed the accused — S.B. Sinha, a former chief adviser to the School Service Commission (SSC) — of an opportunity to move an appeal before a higher bench, a lawyer said.
Justice Gangopadhyay was hearing charges of corruption against Sinha in the recruitment of school staff by the SSC.
Justice Gangopadhyay will again hear the case on Friday, when the CBI has to inform him about the outcome of the interrogation.
The CBI issued a letter to Sinha asking him to appear before deputy superintendent Satendra Singh at the Nizam Palace office of the agency at 7.30pm on Thursday.
As Sinha was not turning up, a team of officers went to his house in a housing complex off EM Bypass but apparently could not find him, CBI sources said.
Sinha finally reached Nizam Palace around 11.10pm to appear before the CBI officers.
In his three-page order, Justice Gangopadhyay said the petitioner had produced documents showing that at least 98 people had got Group D jobs in secondary schools by submitting false recommendation letters.
The judge also mentioned that Bengal’s board of secondary education had claimed before the court that it had given the appointments on the basis of recommendations from the SSC.
But the SSC had told the court through an affidavit that it had not issued any recommendation letter for these people. So the judge thought it was necessary for the CBI to question Sinha as he was a key person in the commission in 2019, when the appointments were made.
Angry at the division bench’s role, Justice Gangopadhyay had on Wednesday sought the intervention of Calcutta High Court and the Chief Justice of India through an administrative order. In open court, Justice Gangopadhyay had said the acts of the said division bench had been “destroying the natural justice system”.
Justice Gangopadhyay had first asked Sinha to furnish details about his properties. The division bench modified the order asking Sinha to furnish the details in a sealed cover.