KolkataAccording to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the arrest of Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Manik Bhattacharya on Tuesday led to “incriminating documents and digital evidence”, “large amounts” deposited in bank accounts and “contradictory” responses to questioning. The reason was the arrest on Tuesday. (ED) remand document, accessed by ThePrint.
Bhattacharya – MLA from Palashipara in Nadia district and former chairman of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education – was arrested in connection with an alleged job-for-cash scam in recruiting primary teachers in government-aided schools in Bengal.
Some of the key evidence cited by the ED includes a CD that purportedly contains the names and roll numbers of candidates for the state’s primary teacher exam, and a letter purportedly addressed to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee which claimed It is learned that 44 candidates have paid Rs 7 lakh each. Return to job – with money allegedly collected by a general secretary of the state’s Trinamool Youth Congress Committee.
The agency also mentioned an alleged shell company registered in the name of Bhattacharya’s son, which earned over Rs 2 crore in the name of “B.Ed training services”, which were allegedly never actually provided. .
The ED’s document, produced before the special MP-MLA court in Kolkata, claimed that Bhattacharya siphoned off money and played a “significant role” in what came to be known as the SSC scam. ‘SSC’ refers to the West Bengal School Service Commission, which is tasked with recruiting teaching and non-teaching staff in government schools.
ED is probing Bhattacharya has been given 14 days custody. He is the second TMC MLA to be arrested in the alleged SSC scam.
Last month the ED had also submitted a 172 pages charge sheet Against former Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee for his alleged role in the scam. Chatterjee was arrested in July after robbing him of cash and jewellery. confiscated From the premises of his close aide and co-accused Arpita Mukherjee. So farThe ED has allegedly attached assets and assets worth around Rs 103 crores belonging to the pair.
In that chargesheet also, Manik Bhattacharya’s name had come up in the context of a WhatsApp chat about him allegedly “taking money” from colleges and students and his apparent collusion with Chatterjee.
Bhattacharya was approved by the Supreme Court in September interim protection By arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is also probing the case. However, this relief of the court did not reach the parallel probe of the ED.
On Tuesday, Bhattacharya’s lawyer Sanjay Dasgupta claimed that the arrest was illegal while arguing the matter in the MP-MLA court.
“My client has appeared before the central agency office six times when he was called. The ED has questioned him for 10-12 hours before his arrest. How can the ED say it is not cooperating? The Supreme Court had asked the CBI not to take any coercive action against him in this case, then how can the ED arrest him? Dasgupta said this before Justice Anandmohan Mukhopadhyay.
there was also a petition filed in the Supreme Court In this case, with the plea that the TMC MLA was arrested illegally and should be released on grounds of health. The top court has refused to intervene for now and the next hearing is expected on October 17.
Read also: ED chargesheet in Bengal SSC case says ‘was running at Rs 7-8 lakh for the post of teacher’
‘One of the key figures in the whole scam’
The ED’s remand document states that its investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has highlighted “the role of Dr Manik Bhattacharya as one of the key persons in the entire scam of job offers for money”. .
A former principal of Kolkata’s Jogesh Chandra Choudhary Law College, Bhattacharya headed the West Bengal Board of Primary Education for more than a decade from 2011. expulsion Due to the alleged regularity in the recruitment of teachers in June this year.
According to the ED document, “over 58,000 primary teachers were recruited through the board” headed by Bhattacharya.
On 22 July, the agency conducted searches at Bhattacharya’s residence and claimed to have seized various “defamatory documents and digital evidence” that suggest he played a part in providing jobs to ineligible candidates and unfairly. The money received was looted.
The evidence included a CD which purportedly contained the names and roll numbers of the examinees. Further, the document says: “Manik Bhattacharya had received a letter which was also addressed to the Chief Minister of West Bengal. From the contents of the said letter it was revealed that illegally amounting to Rs. 7 lakh each was taken from 44 candidates for giving teachers jobs. It was also learned that the said amount was collected by a general secretary of West Bengal Pradesh Trinamool Youth Congress Committee.
On July 27 and October 10, the ED confronted Bhattacharya with this letter, and allegedly gave contradictory replies that led to his arrest.
The ED is also probing a company “M/s Accure Consultancy Services” owned by MLA’s son Souvik Bhattacharya.
According to the ED, between October 2018 and April 2019, this company received Rs 50,000 from 530 private institutions offering B.Ed training, amounting to Rs 2.64 crore, in the name of services rendered. However, the document claimed that no service was provided by “M/s Accure Consultancy Services”.
,[H]The ED has alleged that huge amounts have been deposited/deposited in the bank accounts of family members of Mr. Manik Bhattacharya and Mr. Manik Bhattacharya has been evasive in replying to such accounts and the source of such funds. .
political controversy
The arrest of TMC leaders in the alleged SSC scam has increased political tension in the state. While the opposition BJP has accused the ruling TMC of corruption, the latter has suggested that it is being persecuted by central agencies for politically motivated reasons.
BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya told ThePrint, “It was a well-planned scam and Manik was a pillar in it. Entire Trinamool Congress is involved in the scam and Manik was a gangster who was rewarded with MLA post by the party. Youth has been cheated, many youths have lost a golden opportunity due to this scam, we hope they will get justice.
The Trinamool Congress, which is battling corruption charges against its leaders, said whoever committed the crime should be punished.
“The matter is under investigation, and we should not comment on it. But if someone has committed a crime then that person should be punished. We hope that the agency will conduct a fair investigation and will not go according to the BJP’s playbook. CM Mamata has informed the High Court that the state is ready to conduct recruitment in the coming days,” Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh told ThePrint.
(Edited by Aswari Singh)
Read also: 50-day plan, 93 locations, 106 arrests – How NIA, ED carried out India’s first ‘coordinated raid’