ED summons TMC MLA Manik Bhattacharya in recruitment scam case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing the money laundering aspect of the teacher recruitment scam in West Bengal, Tuesday summoned TMC MLA Manik Bhattacharya in connection with it, sources said.

Bhattacharya, who is an MLA from Nadia district and the ex-president of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, has been asked to depose before the officials of ED at CGO complex at 12 noon on Wednesday. ED has already conducted search operations in Bhattacharya’s residential premises on July 22 along with those of others allegedly involved in the recruitment scam.

State Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee, who was the former education minister, and his close associate Arpita Mukherjee are in ED custody at the CGO complex here and are being interrogated in connection with the scam after their arrest on July 23.

The agency recovered more than Rs 20 crore in cash, besides jewellery and foreign exchange from Mukherjee’s apartment in south-west Kolkata.

Chatterjee, who was arrested by the ED on Saturday in connection with its investigation into irregularities in the recruitment drives by the School Service Commission (SSC), was taken to AIIMS Bhubaneswar for health check up and brought back to the city on Tuesday morning and is being interrogated.