Kolkata, Jan 5 (IANS): A special CBI court on Thursday extended the judicial custody of former West Bengal Education Minister and Trinamool Congress General Secretary Partha Chatterjee, and six other accused, by another 14 days in connection with the multi- crore teachers' recruitment scam in the state.

However, at the same time, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) faced the wrath of the judge for its slow pace of investigation in the matter.

"If you cannot increase the pace of investigation from the level of Doon Express to that of Vande Bharat Express at least take it to the level of Shatabdi Express," the special judge told the CBI counsel.

On Thursday while moving the bail plea, Chatterjee's counsel Selim Rahman claimed that the central agency has so far not been able to provide any concrete evidence against his client. "The CBI is constantly claiming that my client is involved in a bigger conspiracy. But what is that bigger conspiracy they had failed to define," Rahman said.

In a counter-argument, the CBI counsel claimed that the investigation so far revealed that crores of rupees had been accepted against illegal appointment. "The government documents had been tampered with to accommodate illegal appointees. In such a situation bail for the accused will hamper the process of investigation," the CBI counsel claimed.