Kolkata: Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday questioned why Partha Chatterjee is being retained as a minister by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee despite his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with an alleged school jobs scam.
Adhikari met Governor La Ganesan at the Raj Bhavan here, seeking that Chatterjee, who holds the industry, commerce and parliamentary affairs portfolios, be removed as minister. “She (the chief minister) has not taken any step against him despite so much information and proof,” Adhikari told reporters after the meeting.
Adhikari, a former minister in the Mamata Banerjee government before joining the BJP in 2020, alleged that it is “her strategy to show that she is good and others are not”. The chief minister had said during a programme on Monday that anyone found guilty in court would face action from the party.
Chatterjee and his alleged close associate Arpita Mukherjee were arrested on July 23 by the ED, which is probing the money trail involved in the alleged teacher recruitment irregularities at government-sponsored and-aided schools. Crores of rupees in cash along with other valuable items were allegedly recovered from the residence of Mukherjee.
Chatterjee was the education minister when the school jobs scam occurred. Both have been remanded to the custody of the central agency by a special ED court till August 3.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday again found a large amount of cash in another flat of Arpita Mukherjee, considered a close associate of West Bengal Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee who was arrested in connection with the school recruitment scam, an official said.
After a search operation, ED recovered a huge sum of money from the flat of Arpita Mukherjee, a close aide of West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee, located at Belgharia Town Club. pic.twitter.com/W9u53bme61— ANI (@ANI) July 27, 2022
The central agency also arrested Mukherjee on July 23, a day after unearthing unaccounted cash worth over Rs 21 crore from her flat in south Kolkata. This time, the cash was found in another apartment owned by her at Belgharia in the northern fringes of the city. ED sleuths had to break open a door to get into two flats in Belghoria’s Rathtala locality as the keys to open them could not be spotted, the official said.
“We have found a good amount of money from one of the flats in a housing complex. We have brought three note counting machines to know the exact amount,” he told PTI. Several ‘vital’ documents were also found in the flats during a search. During questioning, Mukherjee informed the ED about her properties in and around Kolkata.
Since Wednesday morning, the agency has been conducting raids at those properties.