Did Sujay Bhadra Receive Rs 75 Crore from Middleman in Bengal School Job Case?

Kolkata, April 29 (NationPress) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) revealed on Tuesday to a special court in Kolkata that one of the main suspects in the West Bengal school job scandal, Sujay Krishna Bhadra, allegedly received Rs 75 crore from a specific middleman, Arun Hazra.

The CBI attorney stated that the funds received by Bhadra were collected by Hazra from “tainted” candidates who paid to secure teaching positions.

Hazra, who has been identified as a suspect in the charge sheet, appeared before the special court in the afternoon. The judge sought clarification regarding the specific allegations against him.

Subsequently, the CBI attorney provided the court with details about the sum of money Hazra gathered as a middleman from “tainted” candidates, ultimately transferring Rs 75 crore to Bhadra.

The CBI lawyer also outlined Hazra's operational methods to the court.

According to the CBI, Hazra worked as a middleman who operated a network of sub-agents. Their primary role was to identify candidates willing to pay for school jobs and to collect the money from those candidates. Hazra gathered funds for recruitment across all categories of teaching personnel, including primary, secondary, and higher secondary.

The recruitment of primary teachers is managed by the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE), while secondary and higher secondary teacher recruitment is overseen by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC).

Last month, the CBI obtained handwriting samples from Hazra to compare with texts found in several diaries, recovered by investigators, which contained details of payments made by Hazra to Bhadra.

Additionally, handwriting samples from six of Hazra’s sub-agents were also collected.

Earlier this month, a division bench of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, upheld a prior order from the Calcutta High Court that annulled 25,753 teaching (secondary and higher secondary) and non-teaching positions in state-operated schools.

The Supreme Court also endorsed the Calcutta High Court's observation that the entire panel had to be invalidated due to the state government and the commission's failure to distinguish between “genuine” candidates and those deemed “tainted”.

Meanwhile, a thorough hearing regarding the irregularities in the recruitment of primary teachers in various state-run schools is set to continue at the new bench of Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Reetobrata Kumar Mitra from May 7. The future of approximately 32,000 primary teachers hangs in the balance in this case.