Recruitment irregularities: Bengal education dept officials guilty says CBI.

Kolkata: A senior CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) stated on Saturday that certain officials of the West Bengal Education Department have their hands in the irregularities in the recruitment of primary school teachers, PTI reported.

The officer said that a probe into the matter has revealed that even candidates who turned in blank answer scripts, barring their names and registration numbers, were also granted an appointment.

"There are several officials and junior-level workers, including clerks, who have been found to be involved in the irregularities in appointments in primary schools in West Bengal," the officer told PTI. He alleged, "We have found several answer sheets that are blank and only names and registration numbers written on them. These candidates were later given appointments."

He claimed that the transactions of vast amounts of cash between these officers and the candidates had been exhumed, and CBI had clear evidence.

It was after the Calcutta High Court's direction that the central probe agency initiated the investigation into allegations of primary teachers being recruited illegally in the state. The court had asked the agency to file a status report at the next hearing on June 15.

The agency had questioned former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee in this regard.