Teachers’ scam: Partha Chatterjee approaches court for relief from ED’s supplementary charge sheet

Kolkata:  Former West Bengal Education Minister and Trinamool Congress Secretary General, Partha Chatterjee has moved a plea in a Kolkata court seeking deletion of his reference in the supplementary charge sheet of Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the multi- crore teachers recruitment scam in the state.

The supplementary charge sheet filed by the ED on December 7 at a special court of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Kolkata, among many other things, gave details on the nexus between Partha Chatterjee and Trinamool legislator and West Bengal Board of Primary Education’s (WBBPE) former President Manik Bhattacharya in the scam.

Chatterjee, in his plea, has sought exemption of his name from that supplementary chargesheet raising objections about the ED’s findings and observations to establish the nexus between him and Bhattacharya.

An element of surprise has surfaced over the development and questions are floating around on why Chatterjee has sought exemption from the ED’s supplementary charge sheet submitted on December 7 and not from the first charge sheet of the agency on September 19, where he was directly accused of being the principal mastermind in the scam and described, along with close associate Arpita Mukherjee, as the biggest beneficiaries on this count.

Both Chatterjee and Bhattacharya are in judicial custody now.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday afternoon, two other accused in the scam, namely West Bengal Board of Secondary Education’s (WBBSE) former President, Kalyanmoy Gangopadhyay and West Bengal School Service Commission’s (WBSSC) former Chairman, Subiresh Bhatatcharya approached the Calcutta High Court seeking bail. Both are in judicial custody in connection with the teachers’ recruitment scam.

The main charge against Bhattacharya, also the former Vice Chancellor of the University of North Bengal, is that during his tenure as the WBSSC Chairman, there was massive tampering of marksheets of the candidates appearing for written examinations for teachers’ recruitment. He was arrested on September 19. Gangopadhyay was arrested on September 15.

–IANS