Teacher’s Recruitment Scam exposed by the AML Watchdog of India. They arrested MLA Manik Bhattacharya in the scam. Ex-President of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE).
Who filed the complaint?
ED is probing money laundering charges into the alleged scam in the recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff by the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) and the WBBPE.
What is Teacher’s Recruitment Scam?
The Teacher’s Recruitment Scam was exposed in West Bengal. Partha Chatterjee was involved in this scam. An illegal recruitment was involved in the Teacher’s Recruitment Scam. A lot of abnormalities were observed in the recruiting the individuals in government aided schools in West Bengal. The scam that was exposed was that the merit ranker were not provided any recruitment opportunities.
Political Associations
Manik Bhattacharya is the MLA for Palashipara in the Nadia district. He is an important member of Trinamool Congress.
A letter that was recovered as evidence, was purportedly addressed to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that claimed 44 aspirants paid Rs 7 lakh each. During the tenure when this fraud took place, Senior TMC leader Partha Chatterjee served as Education Minister.
The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) had earlier arrested Partha Chatterjee, and his close associate Ms. Arpita Mukherjee. Shell Companies associated with the son of Manik Bhattacharya received certain amounts from the victims of the teachers recruitment scam.
Companies involved in Teachers Recruitment Scam
The ED has also filed a Prosecution Complaint against 8 accused persons namely
- Partha Chatterjee
- Arpita Mukherjee
- Echhay Entertainment Pvt Ltd – This is the company where Arpita Mukherjee is a director.
- Ananta Texfab Pvt Ltd
- Symbiosis Merchants Pvt Ltd
- Sentry Engineering Pvt Ltd
- Viewmore Highrise Pvt Ltd
- APA Utility Services
What is the progress observed in the Teacher’s Recruitment Scam case?
The Central Bureau of Investigation was also involved in the Teacher’s Recruitment Scam case. They investigated the case in detail. They were given the opportunity to question Chaterjee.
They came to conclusion that the panel appointed for recruiting the teachers were also not legal. They were also given money. The investigation showed that the ranks of the candidates were also changed rapidly.
The Aftermath of the case
In the case of money laundering. The Hon’ble Special Court took cognizance of the Prosecution Complaint on 19.09.2022 after finding that a prima facie case has been made out against the 8 accused persons.
The ED has already seized cash amounting to a total of Rs. 49.80 Crore and gold & jewelry valued at more than Rs. 5.08 Crore and provisionally attached properties worth Rs. 48.22 Crore in the case taking the total seizure/attachment to Rs. 103.10 Crore.
