While hearing the bail plea of Shanti Prasad Sinha, the former chairman of the advisory committee of the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC), the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to justify its opposition to his bail in the alleged cash-for-job scam.
Sinha was first arrested by the CBI in August 2022 as part of its investigations into an alleged scam. He has been accused of facilitating teaching and non-teaching jobs for unqualified candidates in exchange for money. Former education minister Partha Chatterjee is also behind bars in connection with the case.
Earlier in November last year, a two-judge division bench of the Calcutta High Court had delivered a split verdict on a bail plea moved by Sinha, Chatterjee and several others accused in the case. While four of the accused were granted bail, five were denied, as the judges could not reach a consensus.
The matter was then referred to the single bench of Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty who rejected the bail plea of Sinha, Chatterjee and others, namely Subiresh Bhattacharjee, Kalyanmoy Gangopadhyay, Ashok Saha.
Sinha then knocked on the door of the Supreme Court where the division bench of Justices S.V.N. Bhatti and Sandeep Mehta directed the CBI to explain why it is opposing Sinha’s bail in the next hearing which is likely to take place on May 20.
On Tuesday, Sinha’s counsel argued before the division bench that the chargesheet in the recruitment scam case has already been filed, and under these circumstances, his client should be granted bail.
Sinha has been accused of orchestrating the alleged cash-for-job scam within the SSC. Reportedly, his committee recommended names of candidates to be given jobs. He was also arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in April last year as part of its investigation into the same case.
