SSC case: CBI seizes cash, gold, list of 1,500 candidates in raids

Kolkata: The CBI on Wednesday recovered Rs 50 lakh cash, 1.5 kg gold, property documents and a list of 1,500 names of State Level Selection Test (SLST) candidates during searches conducted at a flat allegedly purchased by Santi Prasad Sinha, adviser to the West Bengal School Service Commission.According to the CBI, the apartment was allegedly bought by Sinha and his wife in the name of a third person. Sinha was appointed adviser to a committee to oversee school teacher recruitments during Partha Chatterjee’s tenure as education minister. The CBI in its charge sheet had named 16 people including Chatterjee, Sinha, former chairman of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) Kalyanmoy Ganguly and former secretary of SSC Ashok Kumar Saha. All these people are now in judicial custody. The CBI had slapped charges of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy on those named on the charge sheet. The Calcutta HC-appointed committee, led by retired HC judge Justice Ranjit Kumar Bag, mentioned in its report that Sinha, Saha and another officer, Soumitra Sarkar, had manipulated the ranks of SLST candidates before uploading the SSC panel in the public domain.