CBI files FIR against TMC lawmaker Manik Bhattacharya in school recruitment case

Manik Bhattacharya, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in October 2022, was grilled by CBI officials in Kolkata’s Presidency correctional home

KOLKATA: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday filed its first case against Manik Bhattacharya, a Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislator and former president of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education in connection with the school recruitment case, an official of the federal agency said on condition of anonymity.

Trinamool Congress MLA and former president of West Bengal Primary Education Board, Manik Bhattacharya was arrested by ED in October 2022 (ANI)

Bhattacharya, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in October 2022, was grilled by CBI officials in Kolkata’s Presidency correctional home on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning before the first information report (FIR) was registered.

“Bhattacharya has been charged under several sections of the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act. The charges include conspiracy, cheating and forgery,” a CBI official said, requesting anonymity.

A copy of the FIR was submitted before Calcutta high court justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay on Wednesday afternoon.

“The entire interrogation was recorded on video camera. The judge will go through the videos during the next hearing,” the CBI official cited above added.

In May 2022, justice Gangopadhyay ordered CBI to probe the appointment of non-teaching staff (Group C and D) and teaching staff by the West Bengal School Service Commission and West Bengal Board of Secondary Education between 2014 and 2021. The appointees allegedly paid bribes in the range of ₹5-15 lakh to get jobs after failing the selection tests.

ED, which is conducting a parallel probe, arrested the then education minister Partha Chatterjee, an MLA from Kolkata, in July last year. Manik Bhattacharya, the legislator from Palashipara in Nadia was arrested by ED in October. Jiban Krishna Saha, the legislator from Barwan in Murshidabad, was arrested by CBI on April 17 this year.

The suspected involvement of TMC leaders in the case surfaced when ED arrested Partha Chatterjee and his close aide Arpita Mukherjee in July 2022. In its first charge sheet filed on September 19 last year, ED said it traced cash, jewellery and immovable property worth ₹103.10 crore linked to the duo.

No TMC leader has commented on the CBI filing charges against Manik Bhattacharya.