West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee, arrested by Enforcement Directorate on Saturday, called the state chief minister Mamata Banerjee four times, but his call went unanswered.
As a part of a process, when a person is arrested, he/she can inform one person who could be a family member or relative or friend. When the ED officials came to arrest him, Chatterjee told them that he wished to speak to the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee about his arrest. He made four calls—at 2.31 am, 2:33 am, 3:37 am, and 9:35 am, but none answered them.
The West Bengal chief minister’s snub assumes significance, highlighting the party’s reluctance to stand behind Partha Chatterjee in the light of piles of cash recovered from his close aide. According to reports, while the party’s old guard wants Partha to continue in party positions and as a minister, the young guns want him removed.
ED nabs Partha Chatterjee
On July 23, officials of the Enforcement Directorate arrested Partha Chatterjee and later produced him before the Bankshall court. He was sent to judicial custody for a period of 2 days. Aripta Mukherjee also has been arrested after recovery of huge stash of cash from her flat.
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.
Prior to the arrest, Partha Chatterjee was questioned for around 26 hours in connection with the SSC scam case. The Enforcement Directorate also raided 13 locations belonging to the TMC Minister.
A day before his arrest, ED raided the house of Arpita Mukherjee, a close aide of Partha Chatterjee, in connection with the money laundering aspect of those allegedly involved in the SSC scam. It recovered a huge pile of cash, approximately 20 crore rupees, from Mukherjee’s place. The money is allegedly the profits of the SSC Scam, according to a statement from the central agency.
