Recruitment scam: Manik Bhattacharya remanded to judicial custody till Nov 10

Kolkata, Oct 28 (IANS) A special court of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Kolkata on Friday remanded Trinamool Congress legislator and the former president of West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE), Manik Bhattacharya to judicial custody till November 10 in connection with the primary teachers' recruitment scam in West Bengal.

On Friday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) counsel Feroze Edulji made a serious allegation during his course of argument on how Manik Bhattacharya used the identity proofs of a deceased person as KYC documents to continue a bank account with a deposit of Rs 2.97 crore, that Bhattacharya's wife, Satarupa Bhattacharya used to held jointly with the same deceased person, Mrityunjoy Chakraborty.

Edulji pointed out that Mrityunjoy Chakraborty died on January 30, 2016 and on March 7, 2019 -- more than three years after his demise, his identity proofs were submitted as KYC or continuation of the same bank account.

"This fresh KYC document was submitted by Satarupa Bhattacharya, which proves that Manik Bhattacharya used his wife as a shield in carrying out his corrupt practices," the ED counsel argued.

Manik Bhattacharya's counsel moved the bail plea on health and age grounds and claimed that considering his age and poor health, he should be granted bail under any condition.

His counsel also argued that his client had been cooperating with the central agencies since the beginning and will continue to do so in the days to come.

He claimed that Mrityunjoy Chakraborty was related to Satarupa Bhattacharya from her father's side and the particular joint account was held by them since 1981.

The ED counsel further argued that the former West Bengal Education Minister, Partha Chatterjee was well aware of the complaints of corruption raised against Manik Bhattacharya but preferred to remain silent.

"The future of almost two generations will be ruined because of such corruption in teachers' recruitment. What will be the future of the state?" the ED counsel questioned.

Finally, after hearing both sides, the special court of PMLA remanded Manik Bhattacharya to judicial custody till November 10.