In the latest turn of events involving the multi-crore teachers' recruitment scam in West Bengal, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has written to Google authorities seeking information on two fake websites used in the crime. Both websites are currently defunct.
These websites duplicated the original website of the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC), according to a report by IANS. They were mentioned at a special CBI court by the central agency counsel on Thursday, April 6, during a hearing on the bail petition by expelled youth Trinamool Congress leader Kuntal Ghosh who is in judicial custody and is an accused in the scam.
It has come to the notice of the sleuths that the original website of WBSSC ends with ".in", whereas the fake websites created for the scam ended with ".com". The central agency has sought details on the websites from Google, like the email accounts used to open these websites and the IP addresses of the devices which were used to open and disable them.
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The role these websites played
Once a detailed report with this information is available from the Google authorities, the investigating officers will be able to make further progress in the probe, as per IANS. A CBI Associate explained that the names of those who paid in advance for getting jobs before the written exam of the Teachers' Eligibility Test (TET) were uploaded on these websites and shown as selected in the examination.
"This was a modus operandi to gain their confidence so that they pay out the remaining agreed amount, and the next stage of manipulations in the recruitment process could be started. The scam is in a true sense a labyrinth where the opening of one door leads to many other doors leading to multiple secret chambers," the associate said.
In the special court hearing, the CBI counsel also detailed the different rates charged by Kuntal Ghosh and his associates for increasing the marks in the written examination for the recruitment of primary teachers. He pointed out that the rates for increasing the marks in the written examination varied over "how much the marks were to be increased".
"The rate for increasing the marks from 60 to 70 was much higher than the rate for increasing the marks from 65 to 70," the CBI counsel told the court. The matter has been under probe for many months now.
