CBI collects voice samples of five accused in Bengal SSC recruitment case

Kolkata, Aug 26 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has collected voice samples of five accused in the West Bengal School Service Commission's (SSC) Group C recruitment corruption case.

The voices of these five people - Subiresh Bhattacharya, Parna Basu, Niladri Das, Samarjit Acharya and Pankaj Bansal - were collected in the presence of a magistrate at the Alipore court on Tuesday.

The CBI had applied to the court to seek permission for collecting voice samples of former Education Department Secretary Subiresh Bhattacharya, SSC employees Samarjit Acharya and Parna Basu, members of the organisation involved in the recruitment process, Niladri Das and Pankaj Bansal.

The move from the central investigation agency came after its officers found an audio-video clip during the recruitment investigation. However, the CBI officials did not disclose where they got the audio-video clip. Based on that source, the central investigation agency wanted to collect voice samples of the five people concerned.

During the hearing of the recruitment case, Subiresh's lawyer raised questions about the admissibility and source of the audio-video clip in his argument. But the CBI did not want to disclose the source. The lawyer of the central investigation agency told the court, "Now we are investigating by collecting evidence. But the accused's lawyer is raising questions about this investigation."

In response, the court said that the accused's lawyer is not talking about the investigation, but about the audio-video clip. He verbally asked the CBI to inform the court about the audio-video through a 'confidential note' without informing everyone. Regarding the five people, including Subiresh, the CBI claimed that they are accused in the case and have been named in the charge sheet. This time, voice samples of the five people were collected.

Earlier, the CBI collected voice samples of Sujay Krishna Bhadra and former Trinamool youth leader Kuntal Ghosh in the recruitment corruption case. Both were arrested by the agency in the same case.

Meanwhile, Former state education minister Partha Chatterjee, who had already been granted bail in a case filed by the state police in the SSC teacher recruitment corruption case, has approached the Calcutta High Court seeking some relaxation in the bail conditions in the case. Sources said the case was heard in the court of Justice Shuvra Ghosh on Tuesday. The matter has been posted for hearing next on September 2.

--IANS

sch/uk