Former West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and several co-accused, including Jibankrishna Saha, appeared virtually before the CBI special court in Alipore on Monday in connection with the School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam.
Chatterjee, currently under treatment, attended the hearing from a hospital bed wearing dark glasses. During the proceedings, he was seen leafing through bulky case documents. Repeatedly, he said, “I am completely innocent. I trust the court. I will say the same thing every day.”
The presiding judge came down strongly on the former minister. Addressing Chatterjee directly, he remarked, “You have paved the way for corruption by illegally appointing persons like Ashok Saha, Shantiprasad Singh and Kalyanmoy Gangopadhyay in the hierarchy to the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education.”
When Chatterjee attempted to elaborate, the court interrupted him. “You have a lawyer, he will say what needs to be said. You will get your chance at the right time,” the judge said, prompting Chatterjee to ask, “Then I have no right to speak?” To this, the judge replied, “Say only what is being asked at the moment.”
Chatterjee’s lawyer, Biplab Goswami, argued that four charge sheets have been filed in the case so far, and his client’s name was absent in the first. “He has been falsely implicated for political reasons, only because he was the then Education Minister. No impartial witness has named him,” Goswami told the court, seeking his discharge.
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The judge, however, highlighted irregularities, noting that in this case the appointment file bypassed the Chief Minister’s office and went directly to the SSC.
The process of framing charges in the Class IX and X recruitment case has now begun. The charges read out included giving jobs to ineligible candidates through conspiracy, tampering with marks, issuing fake appointment letters, forging electronic documents and destroying evidence.
Turning to Jibankrishna Saha, Prasanna Roy and others, the judge said: “You acted as agents, influencing job seekers and compelling them to pay bribes.”
Chatterjee was first arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in 2022 in connection with the recruitment scam. The CBI later arrested him in cases related to Group C, Group D and SSC recruitments. In October 2024, he was also taken into custody in the primary recruitment case.
Recently, the CBI submitted final charge sheets in the SSC recruitment cases across Class IX–X, Class XI–XII and Group C categories. According to sources, while no fresh names have been added, new evidence and documents have been included.
On Monday, defence lawyer Sanjay Dasgupta, representing some of the accused, complained about not receiving witness documents. The CBI assured the court that the papers would be provided by Tuesday after consultations with investigators.
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