The sleuths of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigating multi-crore teacher recruitment scams in West Bengal are likely to bring their first charges against Trinamool Congress legislator and former president of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education within the next 10 years (WBBPE), Manik Bhattacharya. days and if possible before 10 December.
ED sources said the sleuths’ aim is to present the charges within 40 days of the date of the arrest, which took place on October 10 this year. The claim form will be presented to a special court of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Kolkata.
While ED officials kept quiet about the detailed contents of the indictment sheet, sources said much of it will be related to the coherence of proceeds going to the bank accounts of Bhattacharya and his family members of several private teacher training colleges in the state. .
The statements and documents of Tapas Mondal, the president of the All Bengal Teachers’ Training Achievers’ Association (ABTTAA), an umbrella organization of such private teacher training colleges, and a first witness to the teacher recruitment scam, as well as the statements made by some representatives of such private institutes will be the supporting and additional evidences on this point.
Another point that can be emphasized in the ED indictment form is the evidence collected by the sleuths of the central agency on how Manik Bhattacharya kept a certain joint account of his wife Satarupa Bhattacharya and a person, Mrityunjoy Chakraborty, even after years of his demise. by using his IDs as KYC.
The charge sheet on this census may also indicate the huge amount of property and assets amounting to around Rs 30 crore in the name of Manik Bhattacharya and his relatives.
The third probable but crucial point that could be tried to establish in the indictment form is the connection between Bhattacharya and the former education minister of West Bengal, Partha Chatterjee in this scam.
ED sleuths have evidence that a WhatsApp message from a whistleblower alerting Chatterjee to Bhattacharya’s involvement in the scam was forwarded to Bhattacharya by Chatterjee only.
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