ED unearths more firms linked to Partha’s aide

An agency official who did not want to be named said all the firms are registered in the name of Arpita Mukherjee — who is an accused in the case along with former minister Partha Chatterjee

The Enforcement Directorate has dug up more firms that were potentially used to launder money and evade taxes in connection with the multi-crore recruitment irregularities at government schools in West Bengal, officials privy to the investigation said on Saturday.

Earlier, the agency had found two real estate firms that were registered to the same eighth-floor address. (ANI Photo)

An agency official who did not want to be named said all the firms are registered in the name of Arpita Mukherjee — who is an accused in the case along with former minister Partha Chatterjee. Both are presently in ED custody till August 3.

The agency has also started the process of freezing at least three bank accounts of Mukherjee, where they have found at least ₹2 crore, a senior official of the agency told news agency PTI.

According to the first official, the agency has unearthed one firm dealing with textiles that was registered to Mukherjee’s eighth floor apartment in Belgharia locality, on the outskirts of Kolkata. Earlier this week, the agency had carried out raids at another apartment owned by Mukherjee in the same locality and found ₹50 crore in cash and 5 kgs of gold.

Earlier, the agency had found two real estate firms that were registered to the same eighth-floor address. While the capital shares of the two real estate firms were found to be ₹1 lakh each, the capital share of the textile firm is ₹2 lakh, said the official mentioned above.

According to the official, the annual general meetings of all the three firms were held on November 21 and all three firms submitted their final balance sheets on the same date in March 2021.

“The process of freezing Mukherjee’s three bank accounts has started. A total of around ₹2 crore has been found in these accounts. We suspect these accounts were used to carry out several transactions and further probe is underway,” an ED official was quoted as saying by PTI.

A saree dealer has also come under the scanner of the agency. The ED is looking at the stake allegedly held by Chatterjee in the saree dealership in Barasat and Kolkata; Mukherjee used to model for the brand till recently.

“The business of the dealership had grown manifold in recent years. From a small shop, they now have a four-storey shown room. We are trying to find whether Chatterjee and Mukherjee invested some ill-gotten money there,” an ED official had earlier said.

Meanwhile, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stepped up its attack against the ruling Trinamool Congress.

The party organised a rally at Hazra in south Kolkata on Sunday — the assembly constituency of chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Police arrested BJP leader Sukanta Majumdar soon after he came to join the rally. He was released on bail later.

Later in the day, the BJP organised a rally led by Majumdar from the Kolkata Police’s headquarters to the party’s state office.

“An official emergency has been imposed in the state. Police are behaving like a political slave. This government is afraid of the BJP as we have highlighted the corruption. We would gherao the state secretariat in September,” said Majumdar after being released.

The Congress and the Lef too organised rallies in Kolkata and other districts to up their ante against the TMC.

On Friday, TMC national general secretary and Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, met a delegation of candidates who cleared the school service commission (SSC) exam but didn’t receive jobs, and who have been protesting in Kolkata for the last 503 days.

Soon after that, candidates who cleared the teacher eligibility test (TET) in 2014 but didn’t get jobs till date due to alleged irregularities in the recruitment process, also demanded that they be allowed to meet the TMC MP. Dozens of TET candidates staged a sit-in demonstration near Abhishek Banerjee’s office in south Kolkata throughout Friday night. They were later dispersed by the police on Saturday morning.

“The candidates have been deprived of the jobs for several years. What powers has Abhishek Banrejee got that he would solve this problem? Will he be able to return the money?” said Dilip Ghosh, BJP national vice president.

The TMC, however, said that Abhishek Banerjee, with the permission of Mamata Banerjee, has taken an initiative to solve the problem.

“Dear teaching applicants, Pls don’t get provoked by distorted statements of some parties. @AITCofficial is fully with you all. Some persons have done wrong. Govt & party have taken strong steps. Now @MamataOfficial and @abhishekaitc are trying to solve your problem. Pl cooperate,” tweeted TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh on Saturday.

(WITH PTI INPUTS)