New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Manik Bhattacharya in the early hours of Tuesday, October 11, after night-long questioning in connection with the 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.
He is the MLA of Palashipara in the Nadia district. Before taking over as president of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education, he served as the principal of Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College, Kolkata.
Bhattacharya is the second TMC MLA arrested in connection with the alleged scam; in July, the ED arrested former West Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee in the School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam.
Earlier, the Supreme Court granted Bhattacharya “protection” from being arrested by the CBI, which is also investigating the case. The CBI had issued a lookout notice against him.
He was removed from the post of chairman of the state primary education board by the Calcutta high court in June. Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had held him responsible for alleged illegalities committed in the recruitment of 269 teachers in primary schools sponsored or aided by the state government.
The high court had also recently written to CBI to probe into the appointment of Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ staff, assistant teachers of Classes IX-XII and primary teachers.
The ED is tracking the money trail in the alleged 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.
(With PTI inputs)