Bengal Teachers' Recruitment Scam: After Patha Chatterjee, ED Arrests TMC MLA Manik Bhattacharya

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested TMC MLA Manik Bhattacharya in the early hours of Tuesday after night-long questioning in connection with the 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 reporters.

He is the MLA of Palashipara in Nadia district.

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.

ED arrested Partha Chatterjee

Partha Chatterjee, who was the industries and parliamentary affairs minister, had held the education portfolio when the scam was allegedly pulled off. One of his close aides, Arpita Mukherjee, was also arrested by the ED after crores of rupees in cash were seized from her residences in parts of the city.

A day after he was stripped of all posts in the TMC and relieved of ministerial duties, following his arrest in connection with a school recruitment scam, Partha Chatterjee on Friday said that he was a victim of a conspiracy hatched against him.

(With PTI Inputs)