Bengal question paper leak: Left demands judicial probe

Alleging the involvement of West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress in the disappearance of question papers for the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), the opposition Left Front on Sunday demanded a judicial probe into the matter.

Conducted by the West Bengal Board of Primary Education, the TET examination scheduled for Sunday was postponed to October 4 after a bunch of question papers "mysteriously" disappeared on Friday from a bus while being transported to Hooghly district.

The Mamata Banerjee government subsequently directed initiating action against the Department of Posts whose services were utilised to transport the question papers.

Suspecting foul play behind the disappearance of the papers, Left Front chairman Biman Bose said like the multi-crore-rupee Saradha scam, the "Trinamool was neck-deep involved" in the "TET scam".

"It is evident that it is not a mere leaking of question papers, rather a scam and the Trinamool is deeply involved in it. The two postal department officials entrusted with transporting the papers are close to two Trinamool MPs," Bose told media persons here.

Questioning the rescheduled date of the exam, Bose alleged that the state government was trying to cover up something.

"On October 3, there are polls to several civic and municipal bodies, so why has the exam being scheduled the very next day? How will arrangements for the exams be made when schools and other buildings will be used for the purpose of polls? Is the Trinamool trying to cover up something? This government is toying with the future of 23 lakh candidates," said the veteran Marxist.

"It may not be as big as the Saradha scam but the truth needs to be revealed. We demand a judicial probe into this. A retired high court judge must head the probe to find out this murky deal," added Bose.

Announcing the rescheduling of the TET exam, state Education Minister Partha Chatterjee on Friday conceded that there was "lack of transparency" over the disappearance of the question papers.

"It is not clear whether the question papers were lost in transit or something else happened," Chatterjee said.