Bengal school jobs scam: Primary edu board ex-chief remanded in judicial custody till Nov 24

KOLKATA: A special PMLA court here on Thursday extended till November 24 the judicial custody of West Bengal Board of Primary Education’s former president Manik Bhattacharya in connection with a school jobs scam.

The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court allowed a prayer by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which arrested Bhattacharya for alleged irregularities in appointments of teachers in the state-run and -aided schools, to interrogate him in the Presidency Correctional Home, where he is lodged.

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Bhattacharya is also a Trinamool Congress MLA from Palashipara in Nadia district. Rejecting his bail prayer, the special court extended his judicial custody till November 24. Accepting the central agency's contention that the investigation is at an early stage and Bhattacharya is a man of high profile being an MLA of the ruling party, the court granted the ED's prayer for extending his judicial custody.

Praying for his bail, Bhattacharya's counsels said that he has been in custody for a considerable time and that his age (70 years) be considered. The ED arrested Bhattacharya on October 10 in connection with its probe into the money for jobs case, in which “undeserving" candidates were allegedly appointed as assistant teachers in primary schools in the state.

The agency has claimed that he was the president of West Bengal Board of Primary Education for more than 10 years from 2011 during which more than 58,000 primary teachers were recruited through the board.