₹28 crore cash, 5kg gold seized from flat of Bengal minister Partha’s aide: ED
West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee was arrested in connection with the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of hundreds of teachers and non-teaching staff in government schools.
Kolkata: The Enforcement Department (ED) have seized around ₹28 crore, around five kilos of gold and property deeds from a flat which belongs to Arpita Mukherjee, a close aide of West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee, on Wednesday.
The federal agency had arrested both the minister and his aide on July 23 in connection with a multi-crore recruitment scam in government schools in West Bengal. They are now in ED custody.
Last week the ED had seized ₹21.9 crore, gold and US Dollars from Mukherjee’s flat in south Kolkata. Several documents were also seized from the minister’s house.
According to an ED official, the agency conducted raids at five places on Wednesday, including two flats owned by Mukherjee in Belgharia locality, near Kolkata.
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“ ₹27.9 crore cash, around five kilos of gold, silver coins, property deeds and other documents were seized,” said a senior official.
Last night bank officials were roped in along with four high-efficiency note counting machines. The counting continued well past midnight. In the morning the seized items were stacked into ten trunks and loaded on a truck before being taken away by the agency officials.
Aside from the Belgharia flats, Wednesday’s raids were also conducted at Mukherjee’s ancestral home in the same area; at an office in Kasba; and a flat in south Kolkata’s Ballygunge, said the official mentioned above.
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At Ballygunge, officials raided the home of one Manoj Jain, who reportedly had links to Chatterjee. Jain and is also connected to a textile trader who has come under the agency’s scanner, said a second ED official, asking not to be named.
On July 22, the ED conducted raids at 14 places including the residences of two West Bengal ministers – Partha Chatterjee and Paresh Adhikari in connection with its investigation into the alleged irregularities. During the searches, the federal agency seized ₹21.9 crore cash, gold worth more than ₹70 lakh and foreign currency worth more than ₹50 lakh from a flat that belonged to Mukherjee.
Meanwhile, the ED also questioned Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislator and former chairman of the state primary education board, Manik Bhattacharya on Wednesday. On Friday last, the agency had carried out searches at his house.