The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a plea by TMC MLA Manik Bhattacharya against his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with alleged irregularities in primary teacher recruitment in West Bengal.

A bench of justices Aniruddha Bose and Vikram Nath refused to interfere with the ED arrest and junked the plea filed by Bhattacharya.

"The application is dismissed," the bench said.

The ED had arrested Bhattacharya on October 11 after night-long questioning in connection with the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of primary teachers.

Bhattacharya, the former chairman of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education, was arrested for allegedly not cooperating with the investigation.

He is the MLA from the Palashipara assembly constituency in Nadia district.

Earlier, the Supreme Court granted Bhattacharya "protection" from being arrested by the CBI, which is also investigating the case. It is alleged that several people who fared poorly in the recruitment examinations were hired as teachers in exchange for lakhs of rupees, while the eligible candidates were overlooked.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had summoned TMC MLA Manik Bhattacharya in connection with the money laundering aspect of the teacher recruitment scam.

He reached the Enforcement Directorate office ahead of the time he was asked to present himself.

He was arrested in the early hours of October 11, 2022 after night-long questioning in connection with the irregularities in the recruitment of primary teachers. Bhattacharya, the former chairman of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education, was arrested for allegedly not cooperating with the investigation.

In July, the ED arrested former West Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee in the School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam.

Partha Chatterjee, TMC secretary general who holds the parliamentary affairs portfolio, was in charge of education when the alleged appointment scam took place. He was the SSC chairman between 2014 and 2018, and was also arrested regarding the same and still remains in custody.