A court in Kolkata has taken cognisance of a charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate against arrested Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Manik Bhattacharya and others in connection with the West Bengal teachers recruitment ‘scam’ money laundering case, the agency said Friday.
The ED had named a total of six entities including the legislator, his wife Satarupa Bhattacharya, their son Souvik Bhattacharya, Tapas Kumar Mondal (owner of a teacher training centre) and firms like Acuere Consultancy Services and Educlasses Online in the charge sheet filed early this month before a special court that tries cases registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
“The special court has taken cognisance of the offence of money laundering in the said supplementary prosecution complaint (charge sheet) after finding that a prima facie case has been made out against the newly added six accused,” the ED said in a statement. Bhattacharya, a former president of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education, was arrested by the ED in October in the case.
The MLA from Palashipara in Nadia district is in judicial custody at present. The federal agency had filed its first charge sheet in the case in October.
It has seized a whopping cash of Rs 49.80 crore and gold and jewellery valued at more than Rs 5.08 crore apart from attaching (provisionally) properties worth Rs 56.15 crore in this recruitment ‘scam’. The total seizure and attachment in the case stands at Rs 111 crore.
The ED is tracking the money trail in the scam, while the 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 lakhs of rupees, while the eligible candidates were overlooked.
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