In a late development on Thursday, a lookout notice has been issued against Trinamool Congress legislator Manik Bhattacharya, wanted by both the CBI and the ED, for his alleged involvement in the primary teachers' recruitment scam in West Bengal.
Bhattacharya, the former President of West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE), had been ducking the summons from both the agencies for some time now and is currently absconding.
A copy of the lookout notice, along with a photograph of Bhattacharya and the case details, has been forwarded to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for circulation in different international airports in the country.
Similar alerts have been issued to the authorities manning the land borders and different sea-ports of the country. The Customs and the immigration departments have also been alerted.
"For the last 10 days, our officers are desperately searching for Bhattacharya, who ducked the summons issued by us as well as other agencies. He is not available either at his Kolkata residence or at his ancestral residence in Nadia district. His phone is also switched off. So we apprehend that he might make attempts to escape from the country and hence we have issued the lookout notice," a CBI official said.
Bhattacharya was removed from the post of WBBPE President following an order issued by the Calcutta High Court, which also ordered a CBI probe into the primary teachers' recruitment scam. Later, the CBI roped in the ED in the probe to investigate the money trail angle.
The high court had also ordered immediate cancellation of the appointment of 269 candidates as primary teachers and observed that these candidates secured jobs despite not qualifying in the written examination, while some of them did not even appear for the same.
The court also said that the agency sleuths probing the matter cannot be transferred till the time the investigation is complete.
On August 16, while passing a verdict related to the termination of service of a primary teacher just four months after his appointment, the court even referred to Bhattacharya in its observation.
"Probably, the litigant did not pay money to Manik Bhattacharya and so his employment was terminated. West Bengal has become such a state where no one can secure or even retain a state government job without paying money," the court observed.