The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to Souvik Bhattacharya, son of Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Manik Bhattacharya, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case related to the West Bengal teachers’ recruitment “scam”.
A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal granted the relief after noting that no specific order summoning Souvik as an accused was passed by the trial court.
Souvik Bhattacharya had surrendered before the special PMLA court in West Bengal last year, after he was named in the supplementary chargesheet filed by the ED.
The top court had on December 21 last year sought the ED’s response on a plea filed by him seeking bail.
The ED arrested Manik Bhattacharya on October 11, 2022 after night-long questioning. Bhattacharya, a former chairman of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education, was arrested for allegedly not cooperating with the investigation.
He is an MLA from the Palashipara seat in Nadia district.
The top court had earlier dismissed Manik Bhattacharya’s plea against his arrest by the ED in connection with the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of primary school teachers, observing that the federal agency’s action was not illegal.
The ED is tracking the money trail in the alleged scam, while the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is looking into the alleged irregularities committed in the recruitment.
It is alleged that several people who fared poorly in the recruitment examinations were hired as teachers in exchange for money while eligible candidates were overlooked.
