The CBI issued a lookout notice against the MLA in connection with the recruitment scam in the State-run schools
The CBI issued a lookout notice against the MLA in connection with the recruitment scam in the State-run schools
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday issued a lookout notice against Trinamool Congress MLA and former chairman of West Bengal Board of Primary Education, Manik Bhattacharya, in connection with the recruitment scam in the State- run schools. The notice was issued after the CBI officials could not locate Mr. Bhattacharya at his residences in Kolkata and Nadia.
The CBI, which is probing the recruitment scam, had questioned Mr. Bhattacharya, who is the MLA from Palashipara in Nadia district. However, over the past few days, the agency was unable to trace his whereabouts. The State government has recently removed the Trinamool leader from the post of chairman of West Bengal Board of Primary Education.
A lookout notice is issued by a law enforcement agency against a person who is wanted in an investigation or is absconding, to prevent the person from leaving the country.
In a related development, the CBI on Wednesday conducted searches at the office of North Bengal University Vice-Chancellor Subires Bhattacharyya. He was chairman of West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) between 2014 and 2018. The Vice- Chancellor on Thursday denied any irregularities during his tenure as chairman of the commission.
The CBI is probing the allegations of corruption in recruitment on the directions of the Calcutta High Court. On July 23, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Partha Chatterjee, who held the portfolio of State Education Department from 2014 to 2021, after huge sums of money were recovered from the residence of his associate. On August 10, the CBI arrested former SSC advisor Shanti Prasad Sinha and former SSC secretary Ashok Kumar Saha, who were part of the panel that was set up by Mr. Chatterjee.
Stop media trial, urges Mamata Banerjee
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while speaking at an event in Kolkata, said there should be no media trial in the cases pending before courts. “But please no media trial, friends; don’t try to defame us. Instead, project the real news,” Ms. Banerjee said at an event where the West Bengal government handed over eight floors of the new secretariat building to the Calcutta High Court.
The Chief Minister said that in a democracy, “judiciary and media are important pillars. If one loses credibility, the other pillars also get affected”. She urged the judges to complete the pending cases before them.
The remarks by the Chief Minister come at a time when her party is feeling the heat over the ongoing investigation in the SSC recruitment scam and cross-border cattle smuggling scam. The CBI has arrested Trinamool heavyweight leader Anubrata Mondal in the cattle smuggling scam.
