The CBI has said in a report submitted to the high court that Kuntal Ghosh and Tapas Mondal, both of whom are in custody in connection with alleged irregularities in school recruitments, ran a network that would ask candidates for money in return for teaching jobs in government-aided schools.
The investigating agency submitted its report in the court of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha on Tuesday.
A lawyer connected with the case said Mondal, known for his proximity to Manik Bhattacharya, a former chairman of the state primary education board and now in jail custody, allegedly collected over Rs 4.12 crore from 141 job aspirants between 2016 and 2022 through eight agents.
The Telegraph has seen the report filed by the CBI.
“It was revealed during the investigation that Tapas Kumar Mondal, Chairman of M/S Minerva Group of Institutions and president of All Bengal Teachers Training Achievers Association (A.B.T.T.A.A) collected huge cash from a number of undeserving candidates through his sub-agents; who were mainly owners of Teachers’ training colleges spread all over West Bengal, on the pretext of arranging jobs as primary teachers through TET 2014,” says the report.
“Accused Tapas Kumar Mondal collected a total sum of Rs 4,12,85,000 during the period from 2016 to 2022 from 141 undeserving candidates through his 08 agents.... Besides some cash was even directly collected from the undeserving job aspirants/candidates…. Thereafter a total cash amounting to Rs 5.23 crore was paid by accused Tapas Kumar Mandal to accused Kuntal Ghosh.”
The CBI report refers to a nexus among Trinamool Congress leader Ghosh, Mondal and others.
A website named www.tetresults.com “was created where the undeserving candidates who did not qualify the TET 2014 exams were purportedly shown as qualified for the purpose of further extracting money from them. This website was created in a manner which resembled the original website...” the report says.