Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the high court said on Tuesday the CBI and the ED would have to find out the “mastermind of the crime” while hearing a case related to alleged irregularities in posting teachers of primary schools in 2020.
The judge advised the agencies to take Manik Bhattacharya, a former president of the state primary education board, in their custody to dig out the truth.
Bhattacharya had helmed the board when the candidates were being posted in 2020 based on their performance in the TET, held in 2015, and interview.
“It seems Manik Bhattacharya had chalked out the scheme of the scam. But he was merely a stooge. The investigators will have to find out the mastermind,” Justice Gangopadhyay remarked during the hearing.
Bhattacharya, a Trinamul MLA, was arrested in October by the ED in connection with alleged irregularities in recruitment of teachers.
Acting on an order by Justice Gangopadhyay, the court set up a special investigation team within the CBI.
The judge later issued an order giving the CBI the liberty to go to Presidency Correctional Home at 8.30pm to quiz Bhattacharya.
A team from the CBI reached the correctional home around 8.40pm and met the superintendent to inform him about the high court's order. The officers then questioned Bhattacharya.