Teachers’ Appointment Scam: TMC MLA Manik Bhattacharya Told To Appear Before CBI Today

KOLKATA | Updated: 27 September, 2022 4:39 pm IST

Calcutta High Court judge Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay ordered former chairman of West Bengal Board of Primary Education and Trinamool Congress MLA Manik Bhattacharya to appear at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) office by 8 pm on Tuesday. The order has been issued to Bhattacharya in connection with the ongoing probe into alleged irregularities in primary teachers’ appointments.

In case of violation of the direction, the CBI can also take Bhattacharya into its custody if he does not cooperate with the investigation. The order from Justice Gangopadhyay has directed the CBI to investigate the tampering of OMR sheets.

The central probe agency will have to submit a report to the Calcutta High Court within a month after investigating the reason for the tampering with the sheets. The next hearing of the case will be on November 1.

On August 26, the investigative agency served a lookout notice against Bhattacharya regarding his alleged role in anomalies found in Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) to appoint state primary teachers.

Soon after Bhattacharya’s name surfaced in the scam, the state police said that he will no longer be provided police security. On July 26, Bhattacharya was interrogated at the CGO complex.

The Calcutta High Court had earlier ordered the removal of Bhattacharya from the post of chairman of West Bengal Board of Primary Education over allegations of widespread corruption in the teachers’ recruitment.

Bhattacharya was recently grilled by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The ED has already arrested then Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and his close associate Arpita Mukherjee in the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment scam.

After the arrest of Chatterjee and Mukherjee, the ED also summoned Bhattacharya for interrogation.

The CBI has also arrested former West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) advisor Shanti Prasad Sinha, former WBSSC chairman Ashok Saha and former president of WBSSC Kalyanmoy Ganguly in connection with the scam.