The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress MLA Manik Bhattacharya in the early hours of Tuesday after night-long questioning in connection with alleged irregularities in the recruitment of primary teachers, officials said. Bhattacharya, the former chairman of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education, was arrested for allegedly not cooperating with the investigation, they said.
“Mr Bhattacharya has been arrested for his continued non-cooperating with the investigators during questioning, which began on Monday afternoon. He also tried to misdirect the investigators,” an ED officer told PTI. When produced before a city court, the MLA of Palashipara in Nadia district was remanded to 14 days of ED custody.
Earlier, the Supreme Court granted Bhattacharya “protection” from being arrested by the CBI, which is also investigating the case. The ED is tracking the money trail in the scam, while the CBI is looking into the alleged irregularities committed in the recruitment.
It is alleged that several people who fared poorly in the recruitment examinations were hired as teachers in exchange for lakhs of rupees, while the eligible candidates were overlooked. In July, the ED arrested former West Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee in the School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam.
Reacting to the development, BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya alleged that this is a major racket that deprived thousands of eligible candidates of jobs. The TMC is involved in it from top to bottom. It is not the case of a single Manik Bhattacharya. There will be more arrests in the coming days.” The TMC said that if anyone is involved in corrupt practices, he should be treated according to the law.
We also want the recruitment process to be done expeditiously and fairly for the interest of thousands of candidates. The opposition is playing politics with the future of them, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.
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