Teachers' scam: CBI writes to Google, seeks info on 2 fake websites

Kolkata, April 7 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing the multi-crore teachers' recruitment scam in West Bengal has written to Google seeking information on two fake websites used in the crime.

While investigating the case, the officials came across two websites duplicating the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC)'s.

According to sources, the CBI sleuths have written to the Google authorities, asking for details of the two fake websites. Both the websites are currently defunct.

The probe agency sleuths have sought information on the email accounts which used to open these websites, IP addresses of the devices which were used to open them and then disable them in due course.

Once the detailed report on this count is available from the Google authorities, the investigating officers will be able to make further progress in the probe.

As per the sources, the original website of WBSSC ends with ".in", whereas the fake websites floated for the purpose ended with ".com". A mention about these two websites was made at a special court of CBI by the central agency counsel on Thursday during the hearing on the bail petition by expelled youth Trinamool Congress leader Kuntal Ghosh who is in judicial custody.

Explaining the modus operandi of running these fake websites, a CBI associate explained that the names of those who paid advance for getting jobs before the written examination were uploaded on these websites and shown as selected in the examination.

"This was a modus operandi to gain their confidence so that they pay out the remaining agreed amount so that the next stage of manipulations in the recruitment process could be started. The scam is in true sense a labyrinth where opening of one door leads to many other doors leading to multiple secret chambers," a CBI associate said.

On Thursday, the CBI counsel detailed in the court about the different rates charged by Kuntal Ghosh and his associates for increasing the marks in the written examination for the teachers' eligibility test (TET) for the recruitment of primary teachers.

The central agency counsel told the court that the rates for increasing the marks in the written examination varied over "how much the marks were to be increased".

"The rate for increasing the marks from 60 to 70 was much higher than the rate for increasing the marks from 65 to 70," the CBI counsel told the court on Thursday.