West Bengal: Manik Bhattacharya, a Trinamool Congress MLA, was detained early this morning after being questioned by the Enforcement Directorate during the course of the previous night on an alleged teachers’ recruitment fraud in West Bengal. He is the second Trinamool politician to be detained in connection with the fraud. The first was the former minister for Bengal, Partha Chatterjee, who was detained in July after large sums of money were found in the homes of his close friend Arpita Mukherjee.
Ex-Minister’s WhatsApp History reveals role in collecting bribes
The fired minister’s WhatsApp chat history, according to the Enforcement Directorate, which is looking into the case’s money trail, included a discussion regarding Mr. Bhattacharya’s role in collecting bribes.
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The Palashipara assembly constituency’s MLA will have a medical examination before being hauled to court later today.
The Supreme Court recently prolonged the interim protection provided to Mr. Bhattacharya in the case until further instructions, and now he has been arrested. On September 30, the court issued an order directing him to assist the investigating team.
Manik Bhattacharya was fired from his position as president of the Bengal Primary Education Board after the ED recovered cash from Ms. Arpita Mukherjee’s residence and his name came up in the investigation following Mr. Chatterjee’s detention from the party.
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What was the scam?
According to the ED, Mr. Chatterjee and Ms. Mukherjee engaged in a criminal conspiracy to illegally hire teachers for state-sponsored and -aided schools based on the School Service Commission’s (SSC) recommendations, which resulted in significant proceeds of crime. When Chatterjee was the education minister, the alleged violations allegedly occurred.
His investments were taken away after his incarceration. He was also put on leave by the Trinamool Congress.
16 suspects had already been listed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), including Partha Chatterjee and former SSC advisor Shanti Prasad Sinha. On the Calcutta High Court’s instruction, the investigating agency is looking into potential irregularities in the hiring of the instructors.
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