The accused in the case have been charged under sections 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (cheating), 471 (using a document as genuine), 420 (cheating), 120B (criminal conspiracy), and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of an offense) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, according to CBI sources.
Among the 16 accused, ten are individuals who were illegally appointed, including the then WBSSC advisor Shanti Prasad Sinha. The chargesheet names Shanti Prasad Sinha, then Minister in charge of the Department of School Education Partha Chatterjee, then WBSSC Program Officer Samarjit Acharya, then WBSSC Chairman Prof Saumitra Sarkar, then WBSSC Assistant Secretary Ashok Kumar Saha, then President of the Adhoc Committee of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education Dr. Kalyanmoy Ganguly, and others. All of them were allegedly involved in the illegal appointment of candidates in 2016 after the expiry of the panel.
The case was initiated following a Calcutta High Court order, alleging that the accused conspired to provide undue advantages in the appointment of unqualified candidates to Group-C staff positions in various schools. Several of the accused, including Santi Prasad Sinha, Ashok Kumar Saha, Dr. Kalyanmoy Gangully, and Dr. Partha Chatterjee, are currently in judicial custody.
CBI officials stated that the investigation is ongoing, focusing on a larger conspiracy and the involvement of other individuals. The alleged irregularities occurred during the tenure of Partha Chatterjee as the education minister. Chatterjee was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in July while serving as the state’s industry and commerce minister, leading to the stripping of his portfolios and suspension from the Trinamool Congress. Santi Prasad Sinha was arrested by the CBI in August.
