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Partha Chatterjee sent to 2-day ED custody over Bengal recruitment scam
West Bengal industry and commerce minister and TMC state general secretary Partha Chatterjee was arrested by the ED on Saturday morning after 27 hours of interrogation over alleged irregularities in recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff in government schools, officials said.
West Bengal industry and commerce minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) state general secretary Partha Chatterjee was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday morning after 27 hours of interrogation over alleged irregularities in recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff in government schools, officials said.
Chatterjee was the state education minister from 2014 to 2021; the alleged irregularities in the recruitment took place in 2018.
His arrest, which is likely to worsen the state government’s relations with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre, sent the TMC into a huddle as senior leaders, including party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, held a meeting and later said it would take action against the minister if he is proven guilty.
A close associate of the minister, Arpita Mukherjee, from whose flat over ₹21 crore in cash was seized during a raid on Friday, and Sukanta Acharya, Chatterjee’s personal secretary, were also arrested in the case.
Chatterjee was produced in Bankshall court here, later in the day, which sent him to ED custody for two days, his lawyer said. Prior to that, he was taken to an ESI Hospital where a medical check-up was conducted.
“I tried to contact the TMC supremo (Mamata Banerjee) but could not. They (ED) are not allowing me to contact anyone,” the minister told reporters after coming out of the hospital.
Chatterjee, who also holds the parliamentary affairs portfolio, has been booked under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the Indian Penal Code, his lawyer said.
“He will be produced at a special ED court on Monday. He has fallen ill and has totally broken down. We have urged the agency to take care of his health,” he added.
Keeping in mind his health, Chatterjee was later admitted to state-run SSKM hospital on the orders of Calcutta high court.
Mukherjee said she was innocent. “I am innocent. I am being harassed,” she told reporters as she was whisked away by ED officials from her residence.
The arrests came a day after the law enforcement agency raided 13 locations across Bengal, including the residences of Chatterjee and Paresh Adhikary, junior education minister of the state. Besides ₹21 crore in cash, officials said they seized foreign currency and gold worth several lakhs from Mukherjee’s residence on Friday.
“It is suspected that the cash, which was seized from Mukherjee’s flat, was proceeds of the recruitment scam. Some of the cash was bundled in government envelopes with Chatterjee’s office address and the national emblem printed on it,” an ED official said, seeking anonymity.
A senior ED official said Mukherjee has shared some details about the “chain” through which money was collected from job aspirants and transferred to government officials and politicians.
“She was questioned about one Monalisa Das whose name had cropped up during previous investigations and is known to be close to some ministers,” the official, who did not wish to be named, said.
The TMC said it has no links with Mukherjee and the seized cash. “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 would be able to respond to the allegations that have surfaced,” party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.
“The party has full faith in 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,” he added.
On the directions of the Calcutta high court in May this year, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is also probing the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of hundreds of teachers and non-teaching staff in both secondary and primary schools of the state government.
The agency also interrogated Chatterjee twice on May 18 and 25. While it did not name Chatterjee in its FIR, the minister came under the scanner for approving the formation of a five-member supervisory committee that oversaw the alleged illegal recruitments.
The high court had, prima facie, recorded that it was this high-powered supervisory committee which was the ‘root’ of the alleged scam.
In June, the ED registered two FIRs to unearth the money trail in the case.
