Teacher recruitment scam: Calcutta HC asks CBI to question retired IPS officer

A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to interrogate retired IPS officer and former West Bengal minister Upendranath Biswas, known for probing the fodder scam in Bihar, in connection with the primary teachers' recruitment irregularities scam.

The single-judge bench of Justice Avijit Gangopadhyay also ordered the CBI to trace and question a person named Chandan Mandal alias Ranjan, who was named by Biswas in a recent Facebook Live as one of the key operators in the recruitment irregularities scam.

Incidentally, Biswas had retired as the Additional Director of CBI. As the Joint Director (East) of CBI, Biswas had relentlessly pursued the Rs 950 crore fodder scam case involving former Bihar Chief Ministers Jagannath Mishra and Lalu Prasad. He was the one who had arrested Lalu Prasad who was later sent to jail.

Biswas joined the Trinamool Congress after retirement and contested the 2011 Assembly elections. He also served as the Backward Class Welfare Minister from 2011 to 2016. However, he resigned from Trinamool Congress in 2021.

Recently, in a Facebook Live, Biswas referred to Chandan Mandal alias Ranjan as a key operator in the WBSSC recruitment irregularities scam.

In the live video, Biswas named one Chandan Mandal alias Ranjan, a resident of Bagda in North 24 Parganas district, who could give primary teacher's jobs even to those who submitted blank papers in the written entrance test against a payment of Rs 15 lakh.

In the video, Biswas satirically termed Mandal as an "honest man" who did not fail to return money to the candidate concerned in case his or her appointment could not be arranged. - IANS