Bengal SSC scam: SC rejects TMC leader Manik Bhattacharya’s plea challenging arrest

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Thursday rejected Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and former chairman of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education Manik Bhattacharya’s plea challenging his arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in money laundering case related to West Bengal teachers’ recruitment scam.

‘ED pig-riding upon the CBI’

The bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Vikram Nath heard the matter. Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi appearing for Bhattacharya argued that the apex court had granted the TMC leader protection from arrest in the CBI matter and that would also extend upon the ED.

“The Enforcement Directorate is piggy-riding upon the Central Bureau of Investigation,” Rohatgi said.

He further said that that Bhattacharya appeared before the ED whenever he was asked to and despite that, the probe agency has been stating that he has not been cooperating with the investigation.

The ED, however,  opposed Bhattacharya’s plea saying that he remained uncooperative during the course of statements recorded under section 50 of PMLA, 2002. The agency further said that the TMC leader has continuously tried to mislead the investigation by suppressing facts and details on the source of funds accumulated in the name of his family members.

‘Attempt to cloud judgement’

Rohatgi told the Court that there has been an attempt to cloud the judgment by saying that a large amount of money are being recovered from Bhattacharya while cash had been recovered from former West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee and his close associate Arpita Mukherjee.

“Not a penny is recovered from me. What kind of statement is this that you are saying large sums of money has been recovered”, Rohatgi said. He further claimed that the remand application filed in Bhattacharya’s matter has been mixed with the details regarding the Partha and Arpita Mukherjee.

Refuting Rohatgi’s arguments, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the ED said, “It is an independent investigation by an independent agency.” He took the court through the remand application and stated before the court, “Look at the host of material and the finding of the court and now he wants to be released. We are dealing with high level officials here.”

For the unversed, the ED is probing money laundering charges into the alleged scam in the recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff by the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) and the WBBPE.

Notably, in a submission to a special CBI court last week, the ED had said that they had found a letter from Bhattacharya’s premises which was addressed to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, alleging that a TMC Youth Congress general secretary collected Rs 7 lakh each from 44 candidates in the teacher recruitment scam.

The Directorate had also said that during searches at Bhattacharya’s house on 22 August, they retrieved “incriminating documents and digital evidence” that indicates to his alleged involvement in the scam.

‘Manik Bhattacharya headed education board during scam’

In its affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, the ED said Bhattacharya was the key person in the teachers’ recruitment scam and that it has been ascertained that he headed the West Bengal board of primary education for more than 10 years starting from 2011 during which more than 58,000 primary teachers were recruited through the board.

Bhattacharya was arrested on 10 October. He was the second TMC leader, after Partha Chatterjee, to be arrested in the alleged Bengal SSC scam case. Partha Chatterjee, the then education minister of West Bengal and his aide Arpita Mukherjee were arrested on 23 July.

With inputs from agencies

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