Ex Bengal Mantri Partha, Aide Arpita Chargesheeted In SSC Scam

Kolkata | Updated: 20 September, 2022 2:50 pm IST

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a chargesheet against jailed former West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee, his close aide and actor Arpita Mukherjee in the teachers’ recruitment scam

Six entities – Echhay Entertainment Pvt Ltd, Ananta Texfab Pvt Ltd, Symbiosis Merchants Pvt Ltd, Sentry Engineering Pvt Ltd, Viewmore Highrise Pvt Ltd and APA Utility Services – have been named.

The 172-page chargesheet has been filed before a special court for offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Kolkata, an ED official told The New Indian.

ALSO READ: ED Attaches Properties, Bank Balances Worth Rs 48.22 Crore Of Partha, Arpita

On Tuesday, the court took cognizance of the chargesheet and took note that prime-facie case has been made out against the eight accused people.

On Monday, the agency attached assets and bank balances to the tune of Rs 48.22 crore of the duo, including 40 immovable properties valued at Rs 40.33 crore and 35 bank accounts having a balance of Rs 7.89 crore in the case.

The properties include flats, a farmhouse, and a land plot in Kolkata, said the ED, adding, “These properties are found to be beneficially owned by Chatterjee and Mukherjee.”

Chatterjee was arrested on June 23 this year for his alleged involvement in the scam. He was later sacked from the Mamata Banerjee Cabinet and all posts in the Trinamool Congress party.

Agency sleuths had recovered piles of cash and jewellery from two apartments owned by Arpita. The total seizure and attachment in the case stands at Rs 103.10 crore.

Both Chatterjee and Arpita are presently in the judicial custody. They will be produced again before the special court on September 28.

In past two months, the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have questioned several TMC leaders in two different cases – the teachers’ recruitment and cattle smuggling case. Party strongman Anubrata Mondal was arrested for involvement in an alleged cattle smuggling case.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee was also interrogated by the ED on several occasions in connection with a money-laundering case linked to coal pilferage in West Burdwan district.

The central agency has also quizzed Abhishek’s wife Rujira Bamerjee and his sister-in-law Maneka Gambhir in the same case.

TMC has launched an attack on the Central government and the BJP, accusing them of misusing the central investigative agencies against their political opponents.

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