Rs 50 crore seized from residence of Partha Chatterjee's aide

The agency had seized more than Rs 21 crore in cash five days before

 

ITDC INDIA EPRESS/ITDC NEWS R Officials from Enforcement Directorate (ED) recovered almost Rs 29 crore, along with a significant amount of gold, from the Belgharia residence of Arpita Mukherjee close aide of West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee, news agency ANI reported. In all, nearly Rs 50 crore in cash has been seized so far, according to multiple reports.

The money and gold were found five days after the agency seized more than Rs 21 crore in cash, besides jewellery and foreign exchange from another flat of Mukherjee in south Kolkata's Tollygunge area, following which she was arrested.

ED officials on Wednesday conducted coordinated raids at various properties at Rajdanga in south Kolkata and Belgharia in the northern fringes of the city. During questioning, Mukherjee informed the ED about those properties. ED sleuths had to break open a door to get into the two flats in Belgharia's Rathtala locality as the keys to open them could not be spotted.

Several "vital" documents were also found in the flats during a search.

Chatterjee, a powerful minister in Mamata Banerjee government and the secretary-general of Trinamool Congress, was arrested on Saturday after the cash was found at Mukherjee's Tollygunge flat.

The CBI, as directed by the Calcutta High Court, is probing the alleged irregularities committed in the recruitment of Group-C and D staff as well as teachers in government-sponsored and aided schools on recommendations of the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC). The ED is tracking the money trail in the scam.

Chatterjee was the education minister when the alleged irregularities took place.