Kolkata, Oct 22: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has submitted a charge sheet in the primary teachers’ recruitment corruption case, alleging that many job aspirants were denied teaching positions despite paying substantial sums to influential individuals, investigation agency sources confirmed on Wednesday.

The central probe agency’s charge sheet, filed before a local court, claims that ‘fake interviews’ were conducted for those job seekers who allegedly paid money. The agency leveled these specific allegations against Trinamool Congress MLA Manik Bhattacharya and a former party leader, Bibhas Adhikari.

Giving details about the functioning of the alleged mechanism, sources in the CBI claimed that Adhikari allegedly collected crores of rupees from job seekers on behalf of Bhattacharya.

The CBI recently filed the charge sheet in the primary teachers’ recruitment corruption case before the Bankshal court.

According to the document, agents linked to Bibhas Adhikari were deployed across the state to collect money from the job aspirants. The funds collected by these agents were allegedly routed to Bhattacharya through this close aide, Adhikari.

The charge sheet also names former secretary of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education, Ratna Chakraborty. The CBI said in the charge sheet that she acted on the instructions of Bhattacharya in matters related to the alleged irregularities.

It may be recalled that Bhattacharya served as the president of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education, while Adhikari was the former Trinamool Congress president of Nalhati Block II in Birbhum district of the state.

Ratna Chakraborty was the secretary of the primary education board during Bhattacharya’s tenure. The CBI alleged that all three accused were closely involved in the primary teachers’ recruitment scam.

Bhattacharya was earlier arrested in connection with the case and is presently out on bail. Adhikari appeared multiple times before the CBI in the same matter. He was recently arrested in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, for allegedly operating a fake police station.

Akola: Three persons were killed and one was injured when an unidentified vehicle rammed into them while they were standing on a highway following a cab breakdown in Maharashtra’s Akola district, police said on Wednesday.

The accident took place at around 10 pm on Tuesday on National Highway no. 53 near Kurankhed village, they said.

A couple from Borgaon Manju town in the district was heading home in a cab along with the driver and another person after finishing their work.

However, the cab broke down on the highway, prompting all its occupants to get out and call a cargo vehicle to tow the four-wheeler.

While they were in the process of getting the cab towed, a speeding unidentified vehicle heading from Murtijapur to Akola struck them, Borgaon Manju police station in-charge Anil Gopal told media.

Dhiraj Sirsath (35), his wife Ashwini Sirsath (30) and cab driver Arif Khan (28) — died on the spot. Another person was seriously injured and undergoing treatment at the Akola District Hospital, he said.

Efforts were on to trace the offending vehicle and its driver, the police added.

Mumbai: A Bangladeshi national, who had illegally entered India nearly 20 years ago and had been living under a false Indian identity, was arrested at Mumbai airport by alert immigration officials. The man, identified as Iklaj Molla, had been working in Kuwait for the past 11 years using a fake Indian passport.

According to officials, Molla had been living in India illegally since 2005 after crossing the Benapole border into West Bengal. Over the next nine years, he fraudulently obtained fake identity documents under an assumed Indian name. Based on these forged documents, he managed to secure an Indian passport from the Kolkata Regional Passport Office in 2014 and moved to Kuwait for employment.

Using the money he earned abroad, Molla purchased properties in Kolkata and was planning to bring his family from Bangladesh to settle in India. On September 14, while returning to India to execute this plan, his activities came under suspicion.

Immigration officer Ganesh Gawli noticed frequent entries to Bangladesh recorded in his passport and questioned him about the repeated visits. Unable to answer convincingly or speak fluent Indian languages, Molla’s true identity was soon uncovered. Following verification, he was confirmed to be a Bangladeshi national.

Subsequently, Sahar Police arrested him for illegal entry, possession of forged documents, and impersonation. Investigations are underway to identify others who may have helped him obtain Indian documents and passport fraudulently.