Kolkata, 3 September (H.S.): The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing the multi-crore cash-for-jobs scam linked to the West Bengal School Service Commission, suspects that the recently published list of tainted candidates was deliberately truncated to understate the actual proceeds of crime.

Last week, the Commission released a list naming 1,806 tainted candidates. The figure surprised even those closely following the case, as it appeared disproportionately low compared to the huge amounts of illicit cash seized and attached during the probe.

According to sources, ED officials believe the “pruned” list may have been prepared as part of a calculated attempt to project the scam as smaller in scale — fewer beneficiaries implying lower illegal earnings. However, the agency has reportedly come across the names of several more candidates who allegedly paid hefty sums to secure jobs but were not included in the official list.

“The objective behind circulating a trimmed list may have been to shield the bigger picture, but such an exercise will not withstand scrutiny,” an ED official asserted.

Legal experts, too, have cast doubt on the Commission’s move. Former Calcutta High Court judge and BJP MP Abhijit Gangopadhyay, along with senior advocate and CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya, publicly criticized the list as incomplete and misleading.

Both leaders claimed that the actual number of tainted candidates could be closer to 6,000 — or even higher, far exceeding the 1,806 figure officially released. They alleged that instead of exposing the fraud, the Commission’s list appears to have been designed to conceal its full extent.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh