The CBI has summoned state education secretary Manish Jain for questioning on Friday in connection with the probe into alleged irregularities in appointments in state government-aided schools.
The summons to Jain comes within a week of his appearance before a team of CBI officers at the Nizam Palace office of the central agency on June 15. He was questioned for over eight hours that day.
Jain had first appeared before the agency in connection with the case in July last year.
Officers in the agency said Jain has been asked to appear before them with files related to appointments, including recruitments to Group C posts, in government-aided schools across the state.
“There are certain issues that need clarifications. We want to question him about those since he handled several files related to appointments,” said a CBI officer.
Jain’s name is said to have cropped up when the CBI began questioning former state education minister Partha Chatterjee and Shanti Prasad Sinha, former chairman of the school service commission’s advisory committee.
Calcutta High Court has called the advisory committee illegal.
A senior CBI officer said they have reasons to believe that several files related to appointments had Jain’s signature and so he must have been aware of what was happening in schools.
“We have also sought a few files from Bikash Bhavan — which houses the directorate of school education — as part of the probe,” the officer said.
After facing CBI interrogators on June 15, Jain had said the files were self-explanatory and that the recruitments were carried out by an independent agency in which the state government had no role.
The CBI had in March arrested Niladri Das, former vice-president of a Noida-based company that was allegedly responsible for scanning OMR sheets of SSC recruitment examinations.
Jain will be asked on Friday on whose recommendation or direction the advisory committee was formedand whether he was in the know of things, senior officers said.
Former minister Chatterjee, now in custody, had reportedly mentioned Jain’s name on several occasions while facing interrogators.
He had reportedly said he would sign files on recruitments forwarded by Jain.