Trinamool MLA Arrested In Bengal Jobs Scam, 2nd Arrest After Ex Minister

Trinamool Congress MLA Manik Bhattacharya was arrested early this morning after being questioned overnight by the Enforcement Directorate in the alleged teachers’ recruitment scam in West Bengal.

He is the second Trinamool leader to be arrested in the scam. The first was former Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee, who was arrested in July after piles of cash were recovered from the properties linked to his close aide Arpita Mukherjee.

The Enforcement Directorate or ED, which is investigating the money trail in the case, claims the sacked minister’s WhatsApp chat history had a conversation about Mr Bhattacharya’s involvement in collecting bribes.

Mr Bhattacharya’s arrest comes just weeks after the Supreme Court extended the interim protection granted to him in the case till further orders.

The Trinamool MLA, who represents the Palashipara assembly constituency, will be taken for a medical test and produced in a court today. While issuing the order on September 30, the court had directed him to cooperate with the investigation agency.

Manik Bhattacharya was removed from the post of the president of Bengal’s Primary Education Board after his name cropped up in the probe after the arrest of Mr Chatterjee from the party after cash recoveries were made by the ED from the home of Ms Arpita Mukherjee.

Following the arrest, he was stripped of his portfolios. The ruling Trinamool Congress also suspended him.

The ED has alleged that Mr Chatterjee and Ms Mukherjee laundered money by indulging in criminal conspiracy for illegally giving teaching post jobs and generated huge proceeds of crime.