Former Bengal minister Paresh Chandra Adhikari, daughter Ankita surrender in SSC recruitment scam case
Former West Bengal minister Paresh Chandra Adhikari and his daughter Ankita Adhikari surrendered before a special CBI court in Alipore on Wednesday in connection with the multi-crore SSC recruitment scam. Both appeared in court and filed bail petitions. Alongside them, Sukanta Acharya, personal secretary to former education minister Partha Chatterjee, also surrendered. Several others accused in the case, including Partha Chatterjee, Samarjit Acharya and Parna Basu, moved for bail as well. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has opposed the bail pleas, arguing that each case carries distinct charges and that the recruitment irregularities have had a “serious impact on society.” The developments come just days after the CBI filed its final charge sheet in the SSC Group C recruitment case. Earlier, the agency had submitted charge sheets in the Class IX-X and Class XI-XII recruitment cases. In total, four charge sheets have now been filed across multiple cases, with around 75 accused summoned to court. Ankita Adhikari, who had secured a teaching post in political science for Classes XI-XII through SSC, was named in the infamous “tainted candidates list” at No. 104. Her appointment was challenged in court by job aspirant Babita Sarkar, leading Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the Calcutta High Court to cancel her appointment in May 2022 and order her to return nearly Rs 15 lakh in salary. The money was later awarded to Sarkar, though her own appointment was also cancelled due to evaluation errors. Eventually, another candidate, Anamika Roy, was appointed, only to lose her job too when 26,000 appointments were annulled last year. The SSC scam probe began in 2022, and within 51 days the CBI filed its first charge sheet naming senior officials and political figures, including Partha Chatterjee, Samarjit Acharya, ex-adviser Shanti Prasad Sinha and former SSC chairman Soumitra Sarkar. While the final charge sheet includes no new names, sources say it contains fresh evidence, including voice samples collected from five accused. The case, involving illegal appointments in Groups C and D as well as Classes IX-XII, remains one of the largest recruitment scandals in Bengal’s history, with investigations still ongoing.
