School jobs scam: Latest update on former Education Minister of West Bengal's arrest and how the scam unfolded 

A Kolkata court on Monday, July 25, granted 10 days ED custody of the senior Trinamool Congress leader and his alleged associate Arpita Mukherjee, who was also arrested in connection with the scam
File photo of Partha Chatterjee | (Pic: PTI)
File photo of Partha Chatterjee | (Pic: PTI)

Arrested West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee, who held the education portfolio when the alleged appointment scam took place, arrived in Kolkata after undergoing a health check-up at AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, officials informed.

Chatterjee was taken to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office at CGO Complex in Salt Lake, Kolkata in a wheelchair for further questioning in connection with its probe into the school jobs scam in West Bengal, they said, as stated in a report by PTI.

Doctors at AIIMS Bhubaneswar said he was suffering from chronic diseases, but does not need immediate hospitalisation.

He was arrested by the ED on Saturday, July 23, in connection with its investigation into irregularities in the recruitment drives by the School Service Commission (SSC).

A Kolkata court on Monday, July 25, granted 10 days ED custody of the senior Trinamool Congress leader and his alleged associate Arpita Mukherjee, who was also arrested in connection with the scam.

Here's how the scam unfolded
The scam dates back to 2014 when a notification for the appointment of teachers through the State Level Selection Test (SLST) had been issued. Soon after the recruitment process began in 2016, petitions began to be filed in the Calcutta High Court, alleging irregularities in the process. The appeals filed by the state government, the Primary School Education Board and others involved in the matter were heard on July 19, Tuesday.

The appeals were moved against the earlier order of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay for instituting a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the appointments of 269 candidates, who got the benefit of an additional one mark, as per a report by PTI.

During the pleadings, the West Bengal Primary School Education Board admitted before the division bench that discrimination was indeed made, as all of the candidates who appeared for the Teachers' Eligibility Test (TET) in 2014 were not granted an additional mark for a wrong question, while also asserting that there was no criminality involved in it, as per PTI.

There were more than 20 lakh candidates who appeared for the TET exam in 2014 and several of them had petitioned the High Court about the alleged discrepancy. One of the petitioners, an aggrieved candidate, has submitted that a proper investigation is required to reveal the reasons and criteria for granting the extra one mark. A CBI inquiry in the matter is on.

ED sleuths also suspect the involvement of a few lesser-known actors, as well as people from different production houses in Odisha and Tamil Nadu, the official said. Mukherjee has also acted in several Bengali and Odia films.

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