Ex-CBI officer who probed Lalu Yadav in fodder scam to help Bengal SSC probe: HC

KOLKATA: Former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) additional director Upen Biswas, who made headlines in 1997 by arresting the then Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in the fodder scam case, was asked by the Calcutta high court on Wednesday to help the agency investigate the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of school teachers by the Bengal government more than four years ago.

Biswas, who was joint director (east) of CBI while heading the fodder scam investigation, retired from CBI in 2002. Years later, he joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and won the Bagdah assembly seat in North 24 Parganas district in 2011 when Mamata Banerjee came to power for the first time. Biswas was appointed a minister but he distanced himself from the TMC after 2018 following differences with the leadership.

CBI is probing the alleged corruption in recruitment of teachers by the SSC in 2018 on the Calcutta high court’s orders. Minister Paresh Adhikari’s daughter has lost her job while former education minister and TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee has been questioned.

Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the Calcutta high court ordered on Wednesday that Biswas, 81, be made a party in the case against the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) and he should help CBI in the investigation since he exposed one of the kingpins of the alleged recruitment racket through his social media posts.

Since last year, Biswas had been writing about a character named Ranjan. He claimed that though the name is fictitious, Ranjan is a person in real life who played a key role in recruiting teachers in exchange for huge amount of money.

Ranjan used to carry consignments of cash to Kolkata in a car, Biswas wrote in his posts, adding that the man used to give refund with interest to people who failed to secure jobs even after paying bribe.

Ranjan, Biswas wrote, lives in the same Bagdah area that he represented as a TMC minister.

Appearing for the petitioners who failed to secure jobs despite meeting all criteria, senior lawyer and CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya drew the court’s attention to the social media posts of Biswas and urged that his help be sought.

Bhattacharya told the court that the real name of Ranjan is Chandan Mondal.

“The court took note of this and said Upen Biswas should be made a party in the case and he should help the investigators,” Bhattacharya said after the hearing.

“The court asked the CBI to file a case against Mondal and file a status report in one week,” Bhattacharya added.

“I accept the order. I have highest respects for the judiciary. I will do my best to take the investigation forward,” Biswas said in the evening.

TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh refused to comment on a former minster getting involved in the investigation.

“This is the court’s decision. We have nothing to say,” he said.

Biswas was the joint director (east) of the CBI while heading the fodder scam investigation.