Kolkata, May 19 (IANS): Former West Bengal Education Minister and senior Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjee was on Wednesday grilled by the sleuths of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for around four hours in connection with a case related to the irregularities in recruitment by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC).

Chatterjee, currently the Commerce and Industries Minister, reached the CBI office at Nizam Palace in central Kolkata at 5.40 pm, and came out of the CBI office at around 9.30 pm.

He was looking quite exhausted while leaving the CBI office and refused to answer any questions from the waiting mediapersons.

Although CBI officials have been tight-lipped so far on whether Chatterjee will be summoned again for questioning, sources said that the entire grilling session on Wednesday was recorded.

"While one team of the CBI was questioning the former Education Minister, a second team was interrogating five members of WBSSC's screening committee that was constituted by Chatterjee during his tenure as the Education Minister. We will corroborate the statements received by the two teams and decide on the next course of action," said a senior CBI official who did not wish to be named.

CBI sources confirmed that Chatterjee avoided a number of questions, claiming that he could not recollect. When asked whether there is a possibility of questioning the Chatterjee and the five members of the screening committee together to avoid inconsistencies in statements, CBI sources said that a decision on this would be taken only after corroborating the statements received by the two interrogating teams.