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WB school recruitment scam: ED arrests TMC MLA Manik Bhattacharya
Bhattacharya is the second TMC legislator to be arrested by the ED in connection with the alleged recruitment scam
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday arrested Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Manik Bhattacharya in connection with the multi-crore teacher recruitment scam in West Bengal.
He was the chairman of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education.
He was removed from his post by the Calcutta high court for his alleged involvement in the scam in June this year.
Bhattacharya is the second TMC legislator to be arrested by the ED in connection with the scam.
Earlier in July, the federal agency had arrested Partha Chatterjee, former state education minister.
The ED had seized round ₹50 crore cash from two flats of Arpita Mukherjee, a close aide of Chatterjee.
Also Read:ED trying to turn Partha Chatterjee’s aide Arpita against him in court: Official
Earlier in September, Bhattacharya had moved the Supreme Court, after the single-judge bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay in Calcutta high court had ordered him to appear before the CBI.
On September 30, the apex court provided relief to Bhattacharya from arrest by the central agency till further orders.
A senior ED official, however, said that the relief provided to Bhattacharya by the apex court was for CBI.
The ED is running a parallel probe and arrested him after consulting with legal team experts.
He will be produced in a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Tuesday.
In May, the Calcutta high court ordered the CBI to probe the illegal appointment of non-teaching staff (Group C and D), and teaching staff by the West Bengal Central School Service Commission and the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education.
The ED started a parallel probe into the money laundering. The ED has already filed its first chargesheet in the case in September.
