WBSSC Scam: ED Begins Process Of Freezing Arpita Mukherjee's Bank Accounts, Found Rs 2 Crore

Senior ED official informed that the agency has found at least Rs 2 crore in the accounts it is looking to freeze. Partho Chatterjee's bank accounts are also likely to be checked.

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has begun the process of freezing at least three bank accounts of Arpita Mukherjee, a close associate of suspended TMC leader Partha Chatterjee, in the West Bengal SSC scam case.

A senior ED official informed on Saturday that the agency has found at least Rs 2 crore in those accounts, reported news agency PTI.

Bank accounts belonging to several "shell companies" of Arpita Mukherjee are also under ED scanner, he stated.

"The process of freezing Mukherjee's three bank accounts has started. A total of around Rs 2 crore has been found in these accounts. We suspect these accounts were used to carry out several transactions and further probe is underway," the official said, as quoted by PTI.

He further informed that a decision on freezing the bank accounts of the "shell companies" is yet to be taken, he refused to reveal the amount in those accounts.

"We have sought the details of these bank accounts from the authorities concerned. After going through the accounts, we will decide our next course of action," he said.

The ED sleuth said the agency will continue grilling Arpita Mukherjee to know whether she has any more bank accounts.

Partho Chatterjee's Bank Accounts Likely To Be Checked

Partho Chatterjee's bank accounts are also being checked, PTI sources said.

They revealed that interrogation of both Arpita Mukherjee and Partho Chatterjee was going on since morning.

The former minister, stripped of his ministerial and party duties, and his associate, from whose two flats ED seized Rs 50 crore in cash besides jewellery and foreign currency, will be in the ED's custody till August 3.

Both the accused were arrested on July 23 for their alleged involvement in the school jobs scam, where genuine candidates were allegedly sidestepped with names that did not appear on the merit list.

ED is probing the money laundering aspect of the scam.

When taken to ESI Hospital in Joka area in south Kolkata on Friday, Partho Chatterjee alleged that he was a "victim of conspiracy", while TMC asserted that he was "solely responsible for his fate". 

(With Agency Inputs)