Kolkata: The Naktala Udayan Sangha Puja took place at the same venue in Kolkata it happens every year, albeit sans former Education minister Partha Chatterjee. The puja earned all its glamour due to the former minister's presence for the last few years. Cut to 2022, the minister is languishing at the Presidency Correctional Facility due to his alleged involvement in the school service commission recruitment scam that rocked Bengal politics months ago.
Chatterjee may not have been physically present at the puja pandal but in the correctional facility, he is keeping track of everything and is gearing up to follow the Bijoya Dashami rituals at the facility itself. The former minister of the state and prime accused in the education corruption case, he is keen to appear in the farewell to goddess Durga.
It is learnt that Chatterjee tried to follow all the rituals in the correctional facility after being denied of this year's celebration in public. According to the sources in the correctional facility, though he was seen smiling for the last few days, his mind was lost somewhere since Wednesday morning. Many are of the opinion that after being deserted by her most respected 'Didi' (West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee), Chaterjee has resorted to worshipping 'Ma' Durga for divine intervention to wriggle him out of the crisis he is in.
Also read: CBI files first chargesheet, names Partha Chatterjee and 15 others in WBSSC scam
It may be recalled that he had to lose ministry after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the education corruption case. He also lost the post of the party's general secretary. Once a heavyweight in Mamata Banerjee's cabinet, Chatterjee failed to garner support from the party after being accused of corruption in the school recruitment case.
Rather, the party's All India General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee made it clear that injustice will not be tolerated in any way. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) presented the first charge sheet in the School Service Commission recruitment scam in Kolkata's Alipore court last Friday, 46 days after opening an investigation in the case.
The document names Partha Chatterjee as well as 15 others, including former President of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, Kalyanmoy Gangopadhyay, ex-WBSSC Secretary Ashok Saha, and the former convener of the state SSC commission, Shanti Prasad Sinha, among others.
The agency, upon being directed by the High Court on February 11 earlier this year, is probing alleged irregularities in the recruitment of both teaching and non-teaching staff in upper primary and secondary schools in West Bengal. Later, a three-member committee headed by former High Court judge Ranjit Kumar Bagh made a preliminary inquiry and submitted a report to the Calcutta High Court.
The report noted that the recruitment of 350 persons was done in a completely illegal manner, putting Ashok Kumar Saha, Samarjit Acharya, and two other members of the Advisory Committee on Appointments in the dock. This was followed by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay ordering the cancellation of the jobs of 350 candidates, as well as directing the CBI to investigate the five committee members, including government officials who were involved.
