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Bengal recruitment scam: Partha Chatterjee arrested; sent to ED custody for 2 days
Later in the day, Arpita Mukherjee, a model and Chatterjee’s close associate, from whose flat the ED had seized more than ₹21 crore in cash and foreign currency and gold worth several lakhs on Friday, and Sukanta Acharya, Chatterjee’s personal secretary were also arrested
Partha Chatterjee, West Bengal minister and ruling Trinamool Congress’ state secretary general was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Saturday morning after being questioned by agency officials for around 27 hours since Friday, in connection with an alleged recruitment scam in government schools.
The minister was produced in a city court in the afternoon, which sent him to ED custody for two days, said Chatterjee’s lawyer. He has been booked under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the Indian Penal Code.
“I tried to contact the TMC chief but couldn’t. They (ED) are not allowing me to contact anyone,” Chatterjee told reporters after coming out of an ESI hospital, where he was taken for a medical check-up before being produced in court.
“He will be produced at a special ED court again on Monday. Chatterjee has fallen ill and has totally broken down. We have urged the agency to take care of his health,” said his lawyer.
Later in the day, Arpita Mukherjee, a model and Chatterjee’s close associate, from whose flat the ED had seized more than ₹21 crore in cash and foreign currency and gold worth several lakhs on Friday, and Sukanta Acharya, Chatterjee’s personal secretary were also arrested.
“I am innocent. I am being harassed,” said Mukherjee while being taken away by the ED from her residence without revealing anything about the source of the cash.
The ED on Friday had conducted simultaneous raids in 13 places across West Bengal, including the house of Chatterjee and Paresh Adhikary, junior education minister of West Bengal.
“It is being suspected that the cash, which was seized from Mukherjee’s flat, was the illegal proceeds of the recruitment scam. Some of the cash was bundled in government envelopes with the minister’s office address and the national emblem printed on it,” said an ED official.
A senior ED official said Mukherjee has shared some details about the ‘chain’ through which money was collected by touts from job aspirants and how it then went up through the ladder to officials and politicians with each having his specific share.
“She was questioned about one Monalisa Das whose name had cropped up during previous investigations and is known to be close to some ministers,” said an ED official.
Earlier this year the Calcutta high court had ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe into the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of hundreds of teachers and non-teaching staff in both secondary and primary schools of the state government. Later in June, the ED lodged two FIRs to unearth the money trail that was allegedly involved in the case.
Chatterjee, who was the education minister for around seven years during whose tenure the alleged scam took place, was earlier questioned by the CBI twice on May 18 and May 25 on the orders of the high court.
Even though the agency didn’t name him as an accused in its FIR, Chatterjee’s name got dragged into the alleged scam for approving the formation of a five-member supervisory committee. The Calcutta high court had earlier prima facie recorded that it was this high-powered supervisory committee, approved by Chatterjee, which was the ‘root’ of the alleged scam.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, meanwhile, attacked the TMC after the developments. While protest rallies were held at multiple places, top party leaders in the state took to social media to up the ante.
Two Union cabinet ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia and Dharmendra Pradhan, who were in Kolkata on Saturday to participate in organisational meetings as part of BJP’s pan-India ‘Pravas’ campaign, also stepped up the attack against the TMC.
“The TMC government has crossed all limits of misgovernance and corruption. The level of corruption in the state is just shocking and unprecedented. The TMC government is no longer a government for the people, it is rather a government of corrupts. The entire government is knee-deep in corruption,” Scindia said.
Senior TMC leaders, including Abhishek Banerjee who is the nephew of Mamata Banerjee, held a meeting on Saturday. The party said that it has nothing to do with the cash nor is Mukherjee associated with the party, but will take action against Chatterjee if proved guilty.
“The TMC has nothing to do with the money that has been seized. The woman, from whose flat the cash was recovered, has nothing to do with the party. Either she or her lawyers will be able to respond to the allegations that have surfaced. The party has full faith on the judicial system, courts and law. As far as Partha Chatterjee is concerned the party and the TMC-government will take action if he is found guilty by the court. But till then the opposition has no moral ground to say a word against the party,” said Kunal Ghosh.
