The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to Trinamul Congress leader Manik Bhattacharya's son Souvik Bhattacharya, who is in jail in connection with the alleged teachers’ recruitment scam.

The order relating to terms and conditions for the bail had not been uploaded on the Supreme Court's website till Friday evening.

A bench of Justice Bela M. Trivedi and Justice Pankaj Mithal granted bail to Souvik after senior advocate Sidharth Luthra appearing for him told the court that the accused was remanded in custody by a special court dealing with PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) offences being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The lawyer said Souvik had been sent to jail when he had voluntarily surrendered before the judge in January last year following a summons issued to him.

Manik Bhattacharya, a former chairman of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education, is presently under judicial custody in connection with the alleged irregularities being probed by both the CBI and the ED.

Souvik had moved the Supreme Court challenging the October 18, 2023, judgment of Calcutta High Court which had refused to enlarge him on bail.

Appearing for Souvik, Luthra pleaded that his client had never been formally arrested but was taken into judicial custody when he surrendered before the special court pursuant to the summons which had been issued contrary to the law.

Further, it was the case of Souvik that he had neither been arraigned as an accused in the scheduled offence nor had he been arrested in the said case till date and hence, the present proceedings were bound to be dropped against him.

“The Courts below have erred in not appreciating the fact that the Petitioner herein has no role in the alleged crime. Furthermore, no recovery has been made qua the Petitioner and therefore, the Hon'ble High Court, ought to have granted bail as the Petitioner,” Souvik pleaded.