WB Teacher Recruitment Scam: Minister's Close Aide Sent To 1-Day ED Custody, Here's What We Know So Far

The former Education Minister and current Minister of Commerce and Industries Development, Partha Chatterjee, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday (July 23) for his alleged links to a recruitment scam in the West Bengal School Service Commission and West Bengal Primary Education Board.

The Minister's arrest comes days after more than Rs 21 crores in cash was found at his close aide Arpita Mukherjee's house. The investigating agency, on Saturday, also arrested Mukherjee for her alleged involvement in the recruitment scam. Following this, the court remanded her for one day of ED custody.

SSKM To AIIMS, Bhubaneshwar

The former Education Minister was granted two days of ED custody hours after being arrested. The decision came when Kolkata's Bankshall Court, in a judgement, said that Minister is remanded to Enforcement Directorate Custody for two days, reported India Today.

After being remanded, the Minister complained of uneasiness due to chest pain. Following this, he was taken to the SSKM hospital in Kolkata. The ED prayed after the court of law and requested to take the Minister to Command Hospital instead of the government's SSKM. ED, in a statement, said that Chatterjee is a senior party leader and his roots are deep in state-run hospitals where he can be influential. But the court ordered to take the Minister to SSKM.

On Sunday, the ED submitted a plea in the Calcutta High Court against the admission of the Minister to the state-run SSKM hospital. Following this, the court directed ED to transfer the Minister to AIIMS Bhubaneshwar on Monday morning for further treatment and medical examination. According to current updates, the Minister has reached the Bhubaneshwar airport, and he's being taken to the hospital.

CM Not Receiving Minister's Call

The arrested Minister dialled Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee four times, but the party's supremo and other leaders distanced themselves from the Minister as the call went unreceived, reported The Indian Express.

According to the officials, while taking anyone in ED custody, there is a procedure of issuing an arrest memo. The process involves asking the person that is to be arrested for a name and number of a second person whom they wish to reach while being in custody.

In the arrest memo, the Minister mentioned the name and number of CM Mamata Banerjee. After being arrested, the Minister informed that he tried dialling the CM four times- at 2:31 am, 2:33 am, 3:37 am, and 9:35 am, but none of the attempts was successful.

Know The 'Teacher Recruitment Scam'

The current Teacher Recruitment Scam, jointly being investigated by the ED and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), pertains to alleged irregularities and corruption in recruiting Group C and Group D teachers and staff in state-run schools.

In 2014, the notification for the recruitment of teachers through the State Level Selection Test (SLST) was released. The recruitment process started in 2016 when the state's education minister was Partha Chatterjee.

After the process started, petitions started showering in the Calcutta High Court allegedly for irregularities. In the petition, many said that those examinees who scored less got a higher rank, and those who didn't appear for the exam got the appointment letter.

Notably, the petitioners estimated that the Miniter of education is involved in the process where he is charging a handsome amount of money from the candidates for recruitment as a teacher.

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