SSC Scam: ED Gets 2-Day Custody of Bengal Min Partha Chatterjee After Rs 21 Cr Cash Seized at Aide's Home

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday continued the raids on the residential premises of Arpita Mukherjee, a “close associate” of West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee, in connection with an alleged teacher recruitment scam in the state. The TMC secretary general, who was the state education minister when the scam took place, was arrested after around 26 hours of grilling in connection with the case and was later presented before a Kolkata court which remanded him to ED custody for two days.

The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court did not hear the matter as it is Saturday.

“We are keeping a close watch on the situation. We will come out with a statement at an appropriate time,” TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said. Speaker Biman Banerjee said the ED must inform the speaker before arresting a member of the assembly. “The ED or CBI, while arresting any MP or MLA, has to inform the speaker of the Lok Sabha or assembly. This is the constitutional norm. But I have not received any communication from ED about Chatterjee’s arrest,” he said.

The ED started the raids on Friday where it seized cash amounting to approximately Rs 21 crore at Arpita’s premise. Moreover, documents pertaining to around 10 properties, gold and diamond ornaments worth about Rs 50 lakh were also recovered from Arpita’s house, sources said. Ornaments worth another about Rs 29 lakhs have been recovered from Arpita’s residence for which was unable to furnish proper documents. This means the total amount of jewellery recovered from her amounts to around Rs 80 lakhs, according to sources.

“The said amount is suspected to be proceeds of crime of the said SSC scam,” the federal probe agency said in a statement yesterday. The search teams took the help of bank officials for counting cash through machines. The ED also detained Arpita.

The ED also arrested Arpita hours after the central agency arrested Chatterjee in connection with its probe into the alleged school jobs scam.

Apart from this, the ED raided 11 locations, including the premises of Minister of State for Education Paresh C Adhikary, LA and ex-president of West Bengal Board of Primary Education Manik Bhattacharya, and others.

More than 20 mobile phones have also been seized during the raids at the premises of Arpita, however, the purpose and use of recovered phones are being ascertained, the ED said.

Sources told News18 that several notes were found in an envelop of West Bengal education ministry with national emblem printed on them.

The others who were raided on Friday include PK Bandopadhyay, OSD to Partha Chatterjee when he was the state education minister earlier, his then personal secretary Sukanta Acharjee, Chandan Mondal alias Ranjan, a “tout” who allegedly used to take money on the promise of giving school teacher jobs, Kalyanmay Bhattacharya, son-in-law of Partha Bhattacharya; Krishna C Adhikary, and Dr SP Sinha, advisor of the West Bengal Central School Service Commission – convenor of the five-member committee.

Another person, Monalisa Das, a professor of Bengali with Kazi Nazrul University, is also under the ED radar. She is also suspected to have made extravagant properties and is reportedly having links with Chatterjee.

Kalyanmoy Ganguly, the ex-president of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education; Saumitra Sarkar, ex-president of the West Bengal Central School Service Commission; and Alok Kumar Sarkar, the deputy director of the School Education Department were also raided.

“A number of incriminating documents, records, details of dubious companies, electronic devices, foreign currency and gold have been recovered from the premises of persons linked to the scam,” the agency said.

The ED’s money-laundering case stems from an FIR by the CBI, which was first directed by the Calcutta High Court to investigate the alleged scam in the recruitment of Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ staff, assistant teachers of classes 11 and 11 and primary teachers.

Chatterjee held the education portfolio when the alleged scam was reportedly pulled off. He was interrogated by the CBI twice, once on April 26 and then on May 18. Adhikari, the minister of state for education, had also been grilled by the CBI with his daughter losing her job as a school teacher.

The raids have put a spotlight on the ruling Trinamool Congress government, and has turned out to be a huge embarrassment for them. The opposition, Bharatiya Janata Party, is already out attacking Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. “Yeh toh bas trailer hai, picture abhi baaki hai (This is just a trailer, the movie is yet to come),” tweeted senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari as he described the raids.

The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha protested in every district of Bengal on Saturday.

Kunal Ghosh, general secretary of the TMC, said that the money recovered by ED has nothing to do with his party. “Those who are named in this investigation, it is their responsibility to answer the questions related to them or their lawyers. Why is there a campaign in the name of the party. TMC is closely watching the developments and will give its reaction at the right time,” Ghosh tweeted.

Focusing on maintaining distance from the SSC scam controversy, the Trinamool Congress may ask Chatterjee to step down amid pressure from the opposition as he’s not only a minister but also the secretary general of the party.

(with inputs from PTI)

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