The hearing of the bail pleas of former education minister Partha Chatterjee and four former government officials in connection with the alleged irregularities in school recruitments ended in the court of Justice Tapabrata Chakrabarty of the high court on Tuesday.

The judge reserved the order.

Justice Chakrabarty is the “third judge” assigned the case by the chief justice after two judges on a division bench had divergent opinions on the petitions.

During the hearing on Tuesday, the CBI counsel submitted that the investigation had been delayed because the accused had destroyed documentary evidence like OMR sheets.

He also said the “scam” was a socio-economic crime and all the accused were “influential”. So there is a fair chance they would influence the witnesses if released on bail, the lawyer submitted.

The lawyer pleaded with the judge to reject the bail prayers considering the “vastness of the crime” and grant more time to the investigators.

The petitioners’ lawyer, Shekhar Basu, said the statements made by the CBI counsel were contradictory.

“He (the CBI counsel) is saying that all the documentary evidence has been destroyed but is also saying that chances of destroying the documentary evidence of the case are there if the accused are granted bail,” Basu said.

“The Supreme Court has observed in several cases that even those accused in a heinous crime have the right to bail after a substantial period.”

Justice Chakrabarty reserved the verdict after the hearing ended.

The former education minister and four former officials — Subires Bhattacharyya, Kalyanmoy Ganguly, Shanti Prasad Sinha and Ashok Das — had first moved bail pleas before the division bench of Justice Arijit Banerjee and Justice Apurba Sinha.

Justice Banerjee, the senior judge on the bench, favoured granting bail mainly because the accused had already spent over two years in jail and none held any official position any more and could influence anyone.

Justice Sinha disagreed saying: “Considering the gravity of the crime, the CBI should get more time to conduct a free investigation.”

The chief justice of the high court then referred the matter to Justice Chakrabarty.

Senior lawyers Shekhar Basu, Milan Mukherjee and Sandipan Ganguly represented the accused before the “third judge”.