West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee‘s senior cabinet minister Partha Chatterjee was Saturday arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the teacher recruitment scam, a day after Rs. 20 crore cash was recovered from his aide’s residence.
UPDATE: Chatterjee will be produced before the court Saturday
Chatterjee, a former state Education Minister and the present Industries Minister, was arrested from his Naktala residence.
His aide Arpita Mukherjee has been detained.
The senior politician, who also happens to be Banerjee-led TMC’s secretary general, was quizzed by the ED for around 27 hours after cash was recovered from Mukherjee’s flat in posh south Kolkata area.
UPDATE: Chatterjee was taken to ESI Hospital in Joka. Later he was released.
Reportedly, Chatterjee was arrested after he did not cooperate with the probe officers.
The ED is likely to seek Chatterjee’s custody before the court.
After the ED quizzed Chatterjee Friday, the TMC has jumped to distance itself from the recovery of the cash.
UPDATE: “Tried to contact Mamata Banerjee but failed,” says Chatterjee.
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh tweeted in Bengali, “The party has no connection with the cash recovered by the ED. Only the accused and their advocates are responsible to reply to the questions raised in this case.
“The party is closely monitoring why its name has been used in the campaign. It will respond at an appropriate time.”
Slamming the ruling party, West Bengal Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari tweeted, “Rs. 20 crore cash recovered by @dir_ed from the residence of Arpita Mukherjee; close aide of WB Education Minister Partha Chatterjee in the SSC scam case. Sources claim that piles of cash were found inside WB Govt Education Ministry envelopes with National Emblem printed on them.”
He added, “Tip of the iceberg?”
After the cash was recovered, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar tweeted, “This is @MamataOfficial’s Bengal model where cash stolen through illegal means in recruitment scams is coming out now.
“ED has seized Rs 20 crore from premises of Arpita Mukherjee, close aide of WB Minister Partha Chatterjee. Truly, TMC is breaking all records of corruptions.”
CPI-M state secretary Md. Salim tweeted, “It’s only tip of the iceberg.Despite court order delayed action is helping the corrupt ministers, officials & leaders to siphon off the loot. Huge corruption in the recruitment process must end & culprits must be brought to book. Tainted ministers must resign.”
