West Bengal SSC Scam: ED Arrests Minister Partha Chatterjee, To Be Produced Before Court Today

Partha Chatterjee Arrested: Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee arrested, aide Arpita Mukherjee detained by ED in teacher recruitment scam case

Rs 20 crore cash seized by ED from the premises of an aide of West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee after the agency conducted raids on Friday.

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday arrested West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee in connection with the alleged teacher recruitment scam in the state.

Chatterjee was the state education minister when the scam allegedly took place, he was arrested after around 26 hours of grilling in connection with the probe.

ED also detained Chatterjee's close aide Arpita Mukherjee, from whose property Rs 21 crore in cash was seized, PTI reported an agency official as stating.

Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee arrested by ED in teacher recruitment scam case.#ParthaChatterjee #ED #WestBengal #WestBengalSSCscampic.twitter.com/0R7A7GHh5R

— ABP LIVE (@abplive) July 23, 2022

"Chatterjee was not cooperating with our officers who were questioning him since Friday morning. He will be produced before a court during the day," the ED official told PTI.

ED Raids On Partha Chatterjee & His Associates

The probe agency on Friday launched coordinated searches at the premises of Partha Chatterjee who is currently the state industries and commerce minister, his aide Arpita Mukherjee, Minister of State for Education Paresh C Adhikary, MLA and ex-president of West Bengal Board of Primary Education Manik Bhattacharya, and a number of other persons.

"During the searches, the ED recovered cash amounting to approximately Rs 20 crore from the residential premises of Arpita Mukherjee, who is a close associate of Partha Chatterjee. The said amount is suspected to be proceeds of crime of the said SSC (School Service Commission) scam," the federal agency mentioned in a statement.

It stated that the search team is taking the assistance of bank officials to count the seized cash using machines. "More than 20 mobile phones have also been seized from the premises of Arpita Mukherjee, the purpose and use of which is being ascertained," the ED informed.

As per PTI, the others who were raided 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 make 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 5-member committee.

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.

The ED said, "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."

West Bengal SSC Scam

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.

At least seven to eight ED personnel arrived at Partha Chatterjee's Naktala residence in south Kolkata around 8:30 am on Friday and carried out searches till 11 am with CRPF personnel keeping guard outside, a PTI source said.

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.

TMC Alleges Centre's 'Ploy', BJP Alleges Mamata's Party Aided 'Large-Scale Anomalies'

The ruling Trinamool Congress described the raids by the ED as a "ploy" by the BJP-led Union government to "harass" its political opponents.

"This raid by ED, a day after the spectacular Martyrs' Day rally that created ripples all over the country, is nothing but an attempt to harass and intimidate leaders of the TMC. The CBI has already interrogated them (ministers) as part of a court directive and they are cooperating. Now, the ED is being invoked only to discredit them. The money-laundering issue is being invented by the BJP," West Bengal Transport Minister Firhad Hakim said, as quoted by PTI.

On the other hand, The BJP alleged that the TMC "aided large-scale anomalies" in the recruitment process of teachers at the primary, upper primary, and secondary levels since coming to power.

"TMC leaders and people close to them duped lakhs of qualified youths and handed over their jobs to ineligible ones. The CBI and ED are progressing on the right path. More skeletons will tumble out of the cupboard. The BJP has no role to play in the issue," the saffron party's national vice-president Dilip Ghosh said. 

(With Agency Inputs)