The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached properties worth ₹48.22 crore, including 40 immovable properties valued at ₹40.33 crore and 35 bank accounts having a balance of ₹7.89 crore, “beneficially owned” by former West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee and his aide Arpita Mukherjee in the alleged teachers' recruitment scam in the state.
The attached properties include flats, a farmhouse, prime land in the city of Kolkata and a bank balance, the ED said on Monday.
According to the central agency, a number of the attached properties were kept in the name of dummy companies and firms and persons acting as a proxy for Chatterjee.
The ED had earlier arrested Chatterjee and Mukherjee after carrying out search operations on various premises linked to the teacher recruitment scam.
The ED had earlier seized cash amounting to a total of ₹49.80 crore and gold and jewellery valued at more than ₹5.08 crore from two premises during the searches conducted on July 22 and July 27. With the present attachment, the total attachment in the case stands at ₹103.10 crore.
Chatterjee, who held the education portfolio when the scam was allegedly pulled off, was relieved of his ministerial duties by the Mamata Banerjee government following his arrest by the ED, which was probing the money trail in the scam.
{{/usCountry}}Chatterjee, who held the education portfolio when the scam was allegedly pulled off, was relieved of his ministerial duties by the Mamata Banerjee government following his arrest by the ED, which was probing the money trail in the scam.
{{/usCountry}}He held the portfolios of parliamentary affairs and industry during his arrest on July 23.