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Kolkata, Nov 19 (IANS) The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday granted bail to former West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) chairman Kalyanmoy Gangopadhyay in the School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment corruption case being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
He is the second most important person to get bail in the SSC recruitment corruption case after former education minister Partha Chatterjee.
Earlier, Kalyanmay had got bail in the Enforcement Directorate (ED) case in the recruitment scam. It is only a matter of time before Gangopadhyay is released from judicial custody after the High Court order.
Kalyanmoy had approached the Calcutta High Court for bail in the CBI case. The case was heard by a bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh, which allowed his plea.
The CBI had claimed that Kalyanmay was involved in the corruption allegations leveled in the 2016 SSC recruitment process. In 2012, he became the administrator of the ad-hoc committee of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education. He held that position for a total of four years until 2016. In the same year, he was made the Chairman of the Board of Secondary Education. His tenure in that post ended on June 22, 2022.
He was arrested by CBI after the corruption scam. Later, the ED also arrested him in a related financial embezzlement case.
Gangopadhyay was one of the members of the advisory committee constituted by the then state education minister Partha Chatterjee. Kalyanmay was accused of illegally occupying the post of Chairman of the Board of Secondary Education. The tenure of that post was extended twice when he was the Chairman of the Board.
Initially, the age limit for holding that post was increased from 60 to 65 years by the State School Education Department. After that, it was increased from 65 to 68. However, Kalyanmay continued to serve the board for the next 16 months with the same salary even after reaching the age of 68. Questions were raised as to why he was working with extra salary. He was also accused of being involved in irregularities in the appointment of teachers in the state-run school through the SSC panel.
Partha Chatterjee was released on bail from judicial custody on November 11, more than three years after he was arrested by the ED in the SSC recruitment corruption scam. The former state education minister was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in July 2022 for his alleged involvement in the multi-crore SSC teacher recruitment scam.
On the day of Chatterjee’s arrest in 2022, the ED had recovered Rs 20 crore in cash from the house of his close aide Arpita Mukherjee, who was also arrested in the same case.
The central probe agency also seized incriminating documents related to 12 immovable properties belonging to his close associates as well as paperwork related to the appointment of Group D staff in schools.
In September this year, the Calcutta High Court granted bail to Chatterjee, who was first in ED and later CBI custody before being sent to judicial custody during the last three years.
Despite the bail order, Chatterjee could not be released immediately due to a Supreme Court directive stating that Chatterjee would be released only if the trial court completed the examination of important witnesses within two months.
–IANS
SH/UK