The internet connection to the server room at the office of the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) was snapped on Monday to prevent the possibility of any online tampering of the data related to the allegedly illegal recruitments, a CBI officer said.
The CBI, tasked by Calcutta High Court to investigate alleged irregularities in the recruitment of teachers and other staff for government-aided schools, has also sealed six almirahs in the office containing documents pertaining to the appointments.
The internet connection was snapped three days after the high court had on Friday ordered the deployment of armed CRPF personnel to guard the four database rooms in the commission’s office in Salt Lake till June 10.
“The connection has been snapped to prevent the possibility of any online tampering of data. Since the names of the high profile figures such as former education minister Partha Chatterjee and current minister of state for education Paresh Chandra Adhikary have cropped up in connection with the investigation, the agency is taking steps to prevent online tampering of records,” the CBI officer said.
The high court had on Thursday asked the CBI to seal the database rooms in the commission’s office after candidates seeking jobs in government-aided schools had the previous night filed an online prayer for deployment of CRPF personnel around the office, fearing theft of data to scupper the investigation into alleged irregularities.
An official of the commission said that after they told CBI sleuths that the almirahs contained records about the SLST (school-level selection test), they sealed the furniture.
The room for employees involved in uploading results, merit lists and waiting lists and other activities has also been sealed, commission sources said. The room has several computers.
A CRPF guard has been deployed in the hall outside the office of the WBSSC chairman.
Siddhartha Majumdar, who stepped down as SSC chairman last week, attended office on Monday as well because his successor, Subhra Chakrabarti, has not yet taken charge, said a commission official.
Chakrabarti, who helms the Samagra Shiksha Mission, will function as commission chairman as an added responsibility.
Majumdar had submitted during a virtual hearing in the high court last Tuesday on the allegedly illegal recruitment of Ankita Adhikary, daughter of minister Paresh Adhikary, as an assistant teacher at a government-aided school that the commission had no information about the candidate’s score in the personality test.
Sources said Majumdar had been asked to continue as SSC chairman for the time being. He declined to comment when Metro asked him how long he had been asked to continue.
On Thursday, he was questioned by the CBI about how the commission functioned and the people involved in the recruitment process.
Majumdar, an associate professor of economics in a city college and a former chairman of the college service commission, had been appointed as SSC chairman in January.