The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected TMC leader Manik Bhattacharya’s plea challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case related to the primary teachers’ appointment scam in West Bengal. The bench, of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Vikram Nath, had reserved its order regarding the matter on Tuesday (October 18).
Appearing for Bhattacharya, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi had argued that the ED should not be allowed to arrest him as the court had earlier granted him protection from arrest by CBI, Live Law reported. Rohtagi also said that the former chairman of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education, appeared before the ED whenever he was asked to. The ED is probing money laundering charges into the alleged scam in the recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff by the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) and the WBBPE.
Meanwhile, in a submission to a special CBI court, the ED had last week said they had found a letter from Bhattacharya’s premises, addressed to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, alleging that a TMC Youth Congress general secretary collected Rs 7 lakh each from 44 candidates in the teacher recruitment scam. The ED submission also stated that during searches at Bhattacharya’s premises on August 22, allegedly “incriminating documents and digital evidence” were retrieved that point to his alleged involvement in the school jobs scam.
Two months after the ED arrested former state education minister Partha Chatterjee and his aide Arpita Mukherjee in the case, Bhattacharya was arrested on October 11 for allegedly not cooperating with the investigation. He was removed from the post of chairman of the WBBPE on June 20, this year, as the High court found him responsible for illegalities committed in the appointment of at least 269 teachers in primary schools — both sponsored or aided — by the state government.
