The Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal Government have finally sacked Partha Chatterjee, who is accused of the SSC Recruitment Scam and was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate. As per the official notification issued by the government of West Bengal, Chatterjee has been relieved from the departments he was Minister-in-charge of. Notably, he had charge of the Department of Industry, Commerce and Enterprises, Department of Information Technology and Electronics, Department of Parliamentary Affairs and Department of Public Enterprises and Industrial Reconstruction.
Partha Chatterjee, accused in West Bengal SSC recruitment scam, relieved of his duties as Minister in Charge of his Departments with effect from 28th July: Government of West Bengal pic.twitter.com/12Asu6b4L8
— ANI (@ANI) July 28, 2022
While earlier the party had said that Partha Chatterjee will not be sacked unless charges against him are proven, that stand proved to be difficult to maintain after more illegal money was found from another house of Arpita Mukherjee, a ‘close aide’, of the minister. Till now, around Rs 50 crore in cash, gold, jewellery, and foreign exchange have been recovered from two flats in Kolkata belonging to her. Arpita Mukherjee has said that the money belongs to Partha Chatterjee, and it is believed that the money is proceeds of the SSC recruitment scam in the education department when Partha Chaterjee was the education minister.
The Enforcement Directorate unearthed the huge stash of cash and valuables after the Calcutta High Court ordered a probe into the SSC recruitment scam, where bribes were taken in exchange of jobs of teachers and other staff in government schools.
In the raids being carried out in connection with the ongoing investigation of the School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam, the federal agency has, thus far, recovered a little over Rs 50 crores in cash and Rs 4.31 crore worth of gold from multiple locations linked to actor Arpita Mukherjee, who have been described as a ‘close associate’ of arrested cabinet minister Partha Chatterjee.
The ED conducted a fresh raid at Mukherjee’s apartment complex in Kolkata’s Belgharia locality on Wednesday. They left this morning with ten trunks of cash amounting to Rs 29 crores, besides 5 kg of jewellery and gold bars. The operation continued for 18 long hours. This was the second raid conducted by the agency. During the first raid on July 22, a day before her arrest, the agency had recovered a whopping Rs 21.20 crores in cash from the actor’s residence, apart from gold, jewellery and foreign exchange.
Besides the cash, jewellery, 22 mobile phones and Rs 54 lakh worth of foreign currency, a number of other incriminating documents, records, details of dubious companies and electronic devices were also seized by the central agency.
They also recovered two black journals consisting of entries about the illegal appointments of teachers against bribes, collection of cash, and more. A detailed account of the SSC Recruitment Scam can be read here.
