West Bengal SSC Scam: West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee’s close aide Arpita Mukherjee, who was arrested along with her in the school job scam, told the Enforcement Directorate that he used to deposit money at her house and call it a “Mini-Bank”. considered as such.
On July 22, the ED had recovered Rs 21 crore in cash during raids at Arpita’s house. A large pile of cash is visible at his house in the raid scenes. Arpita said, “All the money used to be kept in one room, which only Partha Chatterjee and his men would enter.”
He further added that Arpita claimed that the minister used to visit her home once a week or once in 10 days. He reportedly told the agency that Chatterjee used to keep his money at his house and at the house of another woman, who is also his close friend.
Arpita also reportedly admitted that the illegal money had come from bribes she received to help get school job transfers and colleges accredited.
The ED has claimed that during the raids on the premises belonging to the minister and his associates, a former TMC MLA’s letterhead was accompanied by a candidate with roll numbers of 48 candidates for the posts of primary teachers, documents related to appointment of Group D staff, A list of 48 candidates including admit card was found for the recruitment exam.
Chatterjee, who is the Industries and Commerce Minister in the West Bengal government, was arrested a day after the raid. He was the state’s education minister in 2016 when the alleged scam broke out.
The seized papers are listed in a petition filed by the ED in the Calcutta High Court on July 23, seeking to set aside or modify the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s order to take Chatterjee to SSKM Hospital for check-up and treatment.
Court records also include an arrest memorandum filed separately by the ED, claiming that the TMC strongman called Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at least thrice after her arrest on the intervening night of July 22 and 23. , but could not be contacted by them.
On July 24, the High Court had directed the ED to take Chatterjee by air ambulance to AIIMS Bhubaneswar. However, the hospital said that Chatterjee “does not require hospitalization at this point of time” and the medical report has been sent to the high court.
Chatterjee and his alleged aide Arpita Mukherjee were granted 10-day ED custody by a Kolkata court on Monday. The ED had prayed for 14-day custody of Chatterjee, citing the report of AIIMS Bhubaneswar. The court, in its order, directed that the two accused arrested on July 23 should be produced before it again on August 3.