WBSSC scam: Actual number of irregular appointments much more, says CBI

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment irregularities scam, has cast doubts over the number of irregular appointments to be much higher than what was initially perceived.

According to CBI sources, the actual figure of the appointments will surely be much higher than the figure quoted by the Calcutta High Court-appointed judicial probe committee headed by retired Justice Ranjit Kumar Bag.

The committee's report was the basis on which the Calcutta High Court ordered the CBI to investigate the scam.

A highly placed CBI official said that the figure quoted in the Committee report was mainly relating to Group C staff was 381, out of which 222 candidates did not appear for the interview.

"While this is the figure for only Group C staff, if the figures for Group D staff, secondary teachers and higher secondary teachers are taken into consideration, then the actual number of fractious recruitments will surely cross a few thousands," the official said.

It is learnt that CBI officials probing the matter have come out with an innovative strategy to have an initial idea about the tentative number of the disputatious appointments in all these categories.

The probe officials are segregating the recommendations carrying scanned signatures of the regional commissioners of WBSSC from those containing the original signatures.

According to CBI sources, in all probability the recommendation letters carrying scanned signatures of the regional commissioners are the root of the irregularities.

From the beginning, the scanned signatures stored in the server of WBSSC was the main reason for suspicion of the CBI sleuths.

They feel that these scanned signatures were deliberately saved in the servers to be used at a later stage on the recommendation letters.

All those who have been questioned by the CBI sleuths in connection have faced questions on whose instructions such scanned signatures were stored in the servers.

The officials at CBI's Nizam Palace office in Central Kolkata have also forwarded the details of the recorded statements of those questioned to their higher officials at CBI Directorate in New Delhi.