Kolkata: CBI searches houses of primary education board’s ex-president, secretary

KOLKATA: The CBI, probing irregularities in primary school teacher appointments, on Thursday conducted searches at the residence of Trinamool Congress MLA and former president of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education Manik Bhattacharya. The agency also carried out searches at the residence of the board’s secretary, Ratna Chakraborty Bagchi.A team of CBI officials reached Bhattacharya’s Jadavpur flats in the morning. According to sources, he has two flats in the area that he bought in 1991 and 2011, respectively.The Calcutta High Court had earlier said that Bhattacharya allegedly “committed conspicuous illegality” in preparing the second panel to hand out appointments. The court also said that Bhattacharya was behind creating “a hoax about the expert committee”.In its FIR, the CBI has claimed that primary teacher jobs “have been purchased in lieu of huge amounts of money”. Agency officials have reasons to believe that Bhattacharya was one of the key persons behind this. The Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) 2014 was held in 2015, and officials wanted to check Bhattacharya’s assets during the period.According to Bhattacharya’s affidavits submitted with the Election Commission, his annual income increased marginally from Rs 19.5 lakh in 2015-16 to Rs 21.9 lakh in 2021-22. In 2021-22, he declared movable assets worth nearly Rs 2.32 crore.A total of seven teams of CBI officials conducted Thursday’s searches, including at the Salt Lake office of the Board and the premise of a private company. One team also reached the residence of Chandan Mandal alias Ranjan at Bagda. In his complaint, former minister Upen Biswas had alleged Ranjan’s involvement. He had been absconding for the past few months.CBI said they have seized incriminating documents and electronic evidences during the searches.