West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee was arrested by ED in connection with irregularities in recruitment by West Bengal School Service Commission and West Bengal Primary Education Board
KOLKATA: West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday in connection with irregularities in the recruitment of school teachers, was brought back to Kolkata from Odisha on Tuesday morning.
Chatterjee was remanded in ED custody till August 3 by a special Kolkata court late on Monday after the AIIMS Bhubaneshwar confirmed that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader suffered from chronic diseases but did not require hospitalisation.
Chatterjee was admitted to the state-run SSKM hospital in Kolkata after his arrest on Saturday. The Calcutta high court took a dim view of Chatterjee being admitted to the city hospital and ordered authorities to fly him to AIIMS Bhubaneshwar to confirm if he needed to be hospitalised. The high court noted that many political leaders of West Bengal’s ruling TMC had been avoiding interrogation by taking shelter in the hospital.
Chatterjee was arrested on Saturday over alleged irregularities in the recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff in government schools in 2018. He was the school education minister between 2014 and 2021.
The arrest was made after ED seized ₹21.90 crore in Indian currency, jewellery valued at around ₹70 lakh and foreign currency worth around ₹54 lakh from the apartment of Arpita Mukherjee, a model and actor who ED insists is a close aide of Chatterjee. The following day, ED told the Calcutta high court that during the raid at Chatterjee’s house and his 27-hour-long interrogation, ‘sufficient evidence’ was found in support of allegations of his involvement in the recruitment scam. It added that the agency has found “ample evidence” that suggests Arpita Mukherjee was a close aide of Chatterjee.
The federal agency, which will continue to grill Chatterjee, is also expected to be brought face-to-face with Arpita Chatterjee.
Chatterjee’s party has demanded a speedy probe into the allegations against the minister to put an end to speculation about the case, a stance that was interpreted by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to imply that the TMC had disowned the minister.
On Monday, chief minister Mamata Banerjee lashed out at opposition parties for “dragging her name” into the teacher recruitment case and insisted that she did not know Arpita Chatterjee.
“I don’t mind if someone is found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. But why is my name being dragged into this?… I don’t even drink a cup of tea with someone else’s money,” Banerjee said at an event on Monday.
According to ED’s memo, which recorded Chatterjee’s arrest, the minister tried to call Mamata Banerjee at least four times after he was apprehended on Saturday but Banerjee did not respond to the calls.
The memo showed that Chatterjee, who was arrested at 1:55am on Saturday, called Banerjee at least four times between 2:32am and 9:35am. “He called her but she didn’t take the call. Another opportunity was given, but again, she didn’t take the call,” the memo said.
