ED arrests TMC MLA Manik Bhattacharya in SSC scam case

New Delhi, October 11

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Manik Bhattacharya, who was the former chairman of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education, for his alleged role in the School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam in the state.

The ED arrested Bhattacharya after being questioning him for several hours on October 10. Manik Bhattacharya is the retired principal of Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College and the former president of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education.

Bhattacharya, who was removed from his post as chairman of the state primary education board by the Calcutta High Court in June, had been on the ED’s radar for quite a while. The CBI too had issued a lookout notice against him.

After Partha Chatterjee, Bhattacharya is the second TMC MLA to be arrested in the alleged scam related to the recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff in West Bengal schools.

The ED is probing money laundering charges in the alleged scam in recruitments conducted by the West Bengal School Service Commission and West Bengal Board of Primary Education.

On June 20, the court had ordered Bhattacharya’s removal from the post of president of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education, holding him responsible for illegalities committed in the appointment of at least 269 teachers in primary schools sponsored or aided by the state government.