Teachers' scam: ED issues lookout notice against Manik Bhattacharya's son

Kolkata, Feb 15 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) probing the multi-crore teachers' recruitment scam in West Bengal, on Wednesday, issued a lookout notice against Souvik Bhattacharya, son of Trinamool Congress legislator and the former president of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE), Manik Bhattacharya.

The latter is currently in judicial custody over this alleged involvement in the scam.

Sources said that following the interrogation of arrested youth Trinamool Congress leader, Kuntal Ghosh it has been revealed that a portion of the scam proceeds collected by him went to the accounts of former state education minister and Trinamool Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee, Manik Bhattacharya and his son.

In fact, in the supplementary charge sheet filed by the ED at a special court of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Souvik Bhattacharya and his mother Satarupa Bhattacharya were named as beneficiaries of the scam.

ED sources said that since a hearing in the matter is scheduled soon, they doubt the possibility of Souvik Bhattacharya going underground. Hence, the central agency sleuths have forwarded the details of the charges against him and his picture to the Airport Authority of India and border guard organisations both at the land and water borders.

To recall, earlier before his arrest by the ED a similar lookout notice was issued against Manik Bhattacharya as well. Recently, the ED informed the special court of PMLA in Kolkata that Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets with special symbolic codes besides just two questions in the entire answer sheet were used in the primary teachers' recruitment written examination which were "the root of the entire scam" related to the recruitment process.

The ED counsel also informed the court that Manik Bhattacharya and Kuntal Ghosh were the main brains in working out this strategy in this scam and this system of forgery was adopted in the recruitment of primary teachers both in 2012 and 2014.