Bengal teachers' scam: CBI inducts 7 more officers in SIT

Kolkata, April 10 (IANS) In an effort to accelerate the pace of its probe in the multi-crore teacher recruitment scam in West Bengal, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has decided to add seven more officers in the existing Special Investigation Team (SIT).

According to sources, the additional officers have been asked to report immediately to the CBI's anti-corruption wing (ACW) office at Nizam Palace in Kolkata.

The officers comprise one superintendent, three deputy superintendents, two inspectors and one sub-inspector. They are currently posted in the CBI's offices at Delhi, Bhubaneswar, Dhanbad, Bhopal and Visakhapatnam.

Sources said that initially they will be attached to the SIT probing the matter for few months and depending on the progress of the probe, their attachment period might be extended in due course of time.

In the recent period, the CBI has faced the wrath of the judges of different courts pertaining to the slow pace of investigation by the agency in relation to the scam.

The present decision to add to the strength of SIT probing the matter is being viewed as a visible attempt to add pace to the investigation.

With this new induction, the total number of members in the SIT will increase to 15.

Sources said that the SIT had recently sent a report to the agency's headquarter at New Delhi about the progress of the investigation in the matter.

In the report, it was argued that since more and more new names were surfacing in the course of the investigation there is an urgent necessity to add strength in the SIT.

Finally, that submission was accepted by the agency's higher authorities.

Recently, as many as eight officers attached to different units under the West Bengal education department have come under the scanner of CBI.

The central agency has decided to summon them shortly one by one for the purpose of interrogation.