Kolkata, Apr 24 (IANS): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday faced the ire of a special court in Kolkata as many persons named in its charge sheet in the multi-crore teachers' recruitment scam in West Bengal are yet to be arrested by the agency.

The counsel for former West Bengal Education Minister and one of the prime accused in the case, Partha Chatterjee, pointed out on Monday that although a total of 16 persons were named in the CBI charge sheet, only seven have been arrested so far.

"This shows in which direction the investigation is going," Chatterjee's counsel argued.

At this point, the judge of the special court observed that he had already cautioned the CBI that such questions are bound to arise.

In its plea, the CBI counsel said that the case diary in the matter proves how deep-rooted the scam is.

To recall, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the Calcutta High Court too had recently expressed ire over the slow progress of the investigation and observed that at this pace, granting bail to the accused will be inevitable.

On Monday, Chatterjee claimed that he was in no way involved with the recruitment process as the then Education Minister of the state.

"Still, I am in custody. Why should I only suffer? I request the court to grant me bail under any condition. The CBI is acting in whatever manner it wishes just to hide its own inefficiency," he said.

After hearing both sides, the court rejected Chatterjee's bail plea and extended his judicial custody till May 8.

Outside the court, the mediapersons questioned Chatterjee about the huge source of cash recovered from the residence of his close aide Arpita Mukherjee in July last year.

"You better find out," came a one-liner reply from Chatterjee.