The CBI on Thursday charged Kalyanmoy Gangully, a retired president of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, in association with the Group-C recruitment scam case in government schools, officials said.

Gangully was called for asking at the agency’s Kolkata office and brought into custody after he was discovered non-cooperative, they communicated.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had reported the case on May 20 against five accused, including Gagully, the officials said.

It is alleged that the accused extended undue advantage to undeserving and unlisted candidates for the posts of Group-C staff in various schools across West Bengal in a criminal conspiracy with each other.

“The aforesaid persons collected the vacancies of Group-C in an unauthorized way after the expiry of the panel on May 18, 2019, in violation of conditions of School Service Commission Rules, 2009,” the FIR alleged.

The officials expressed that the accused issued recommendations of unsuccessful candidates for those vacancies by issuing fictitious memos of regional commissions and using scanned signatures of the chairpersons of such commissions without their understanding.

“Based on these recommendations, appointment letters were issued, bypassing the normal chain of hierarchy and without sending those recommendation letters to the appointments section of the Board of Secondary Education, West Bengal and without notifying the names of the candidates on the website of the Central Commission for verification of testimonials and collection of appointment letters on the notified date,” the FIR alleged.

The federal investigation agency alleged that deserving candidates were debarred from getting traditional salaried jobs even after the expiry of the panel.

The constitution of the supervisory committee was supported by the then minister in charge, of the school education department, Partha Chatterjee to supervise, monitor, and guide the Central Commission concerning the pending recruitment process.

The CBI has alleged that the constitution of this committee was a violation of the School Service Commission Act, 1997.

The agency has alleged that Gangully gave instructions to a technical officer of the board to prepare appointment letters based on the fake recommendation letters, bypassing the normal chain of hierarchy and without sending those recommendation letters to the appointments section of the board.