The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday rejected the bail petitions of former West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee and four officials in a case about alleged corruption in recruiting teachers, PTI reported.

The Central Bureau of Investigation is conducting the inquiry into the case.

The bail pleas of former West Bengal School Service Commission Chairman Subires Bhattacharya, the commission’s former advisory committee chairman SP Saha, former secretary Ashok Saha and the ex-chief of the state secondary education board Kalyanmoy Ganguly were rejected by Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty.

In November, a division bench of Justices Arijit Banerjee and Apurba Sinha Roy had given a split verdict on granting bail to the five persons. Subsequently, the matter was assigned to the single-judge bench of Chakraborty for adjudication.

The Central Bureau of Investigation had opposed the bail pleas. The agency argued that while the probe against the five accused had been completed, the broader investigation into the alleged recruitment irregularities was still on, PTI reported.

Granting them bail at this stage of the investigation may affect the inquiry as the accused persons are influential, the agency had contended.

Chatterjee, a former leader of West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress, was arrested by the CBI in October. He had been arrested in July 2022 by the Enforcement Directorate under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The CBI has described Chatterjee as the mastermind of the alleged scam.

“There was a nexus involving high-level officers of the education department,” the agency has alleged. “There are many other top-level officers involved in the recruitment scam which was masterminded by Chatterjee.”

Chatterjee was the state education minister in 2019, when jobs were allegedly given to candidates in return for money instead of candidates who had qualified in the recruitment process.

In June 2022, the High Court had asked the CBI to look into alleged irregularities in the recruitment of Group C and Group D staff, assistant teachers of Class 9 to Class 12, and primary teachers.

Chatterjee was stripped of his party and ministerial responsibilities in July 2022.