On July 23, Saturday, officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested West Bengal Industries and Commerce Minister Partha Chatterjee. As per reports, Chatterjee is being taken to the ED’s office and will be produced in court later in the day.
The arrest came a day after the Enforcement Directorate began search operations at various premises linked to the recruitment scam in the West Bengal School Service Commission (WB-SSC) and West Bengal Primary Education Board.
#BREAKING TMC Minister Partha Chatterjee has been arrested.
— News18 (@CNNnews18) July 23, 2022
2 Doctors were at his place as he said that he was ‘not feeling well’.@Ashish_Mehrishi and @KamalikaSengupt with details.
Join the broadcast with @shilparathnam#SSCScam #WestBengal pic.twitter.com/we41LDmaYW
Partha Chatterjee, who is a sitting minister in the Mamata Banerjee government in Bengal, was arrested on Saturday morning from his residence. Reportedly, at the time when the officials went to arrest the minister, 2 doctors were at his place as he said that he was ‘not feeling well’.
Prior to the arrest, Partha Chatterjee had been questioned for around 26 hours in connection with an alleged scam in recruitment of teachers in state-run schools. The alleged scam had taken place when Chatterjee was the education minister of West Bengal.
ED raids TMC minister Partha Chatterjee’s residence
On 22nd July 2022, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted a raid on the properties of West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee as part of an investigation in this case. The raids are being conducted at 13 locations belonging to the Minister for his involvement in the SSC scam.
In addition to him, the ED also raided Minister of State for Education Paresh C Adhikary and TMC MLA Manik Bhattacharya. Besides, the agency included many others in the scope of investigation. The names include Arpita Mukherjee, Partha Chatterjee’s close aide; Chandan Mondal, an agent in selling teacher jobs; Kalyanmay Bhattacharya, Partha Bhattacharya’s son-in-law; Dr. SP Sinha, advisor of the West Bengal Central School Service Commission; Kalyanmoy Ganguly, ex-President of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education; Saumitra Sarkar, ex-President of the West Bengal Central School Service.
ED continues to raid residential premises of Arpita Mukherjee, a close associate of West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday continued the raids on the residential premises of Arpita Mukherjee, a close associate of West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee, in connection with an alleged teacher recruitment scam in the state.
Notably, when ED raided the house of Arpita Mukherjee in connection with the money laundering aspect of those allegedly involved in the SSC scam on Friday, a huge cash of approximately 20 crore rupees was recovered. The money is allegedly the profits of the SSC Scam, according to a statement from the central agency.
From the numerous locations of the people connected to the fraud, the ED has also recovered some suspicious documents, records, information on dubious enterprises, electronic gadgets, foreign currency, and gold.
The action was taken months after the Calcutta High Court ordered the CBI to look into the recruiting scandal involving Group “C” and “D” employees, Assistant Teachers of classes 9th to 12th, and primary teachers. The ED is probing matters involving the unlawful recruitment of non-teaching personnel, teaching staff, and primary school teachers under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
