New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday provisionally attached movable properties worth Rs 8 crore belonging to the Trinamool Congress MLA Manik Bhattacharya and his family members in the Primary Teachers Recruitment Scam in West Bengal, according to official sources.

Reportedly, the money attached by the ED was kept in the form of a bank balance in 61 accounts and mutual funds attached in the name of friends and relatives of Manik Bhattacharya, to avoid detection by law enforcement authorities. Informing about the attachment, the sources further said, “One such account used for money laundering activities was found in the name of Satarupa Bhattacharya w/o Manik Bhattacharya and the Late Mrityunjay Chatterjee who passed away in 2016”.

Notably, ED had earlier arrested Manik Bhattacharya, MLA, TMC and the Ex-President of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education in the Teachers Recruitment Scam in West Bengal on October 10, 2022, due to his active and direct involvement in the offence of money laundering and his continuous non-cooperation towards the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) investigation. He is still under judicial custody.

ED has already seized cash amounting to a total of Rs 49.80 Crore and gold jewellery valued at more than Rs 5.08 Crore and provisionally attached properties worth Rs 48.22 Crore in this recruitment scam.

The total seizure and attachment after the latest attachment drive stand at Rs 111 Crore.