Cash Recovered From ED Raids Doesn't Belong to Me: Ex-TMC Min Partha Chatterjee

Partha Chatterjee was being taken to ESI Hospital at Kolkata's Joka for a medical check-up.

Partha Chatterjee was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on 23 July.

(Photo: PTI/File Image)

Partha Chatterjee, who is at the centre of a multi-crore teacher recruitment scam in West Bengal, on Sunday, 31 July, claimed that the money recovered during Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids does not belong to him.

"The money (recovered) is not mine," Chatterjee said, as quoted by PTI.

The arrested minister further said that time will tell who is "conspiring" against him. "You will get to know when the time comes," the five-time MLA from the Behala Paschim constituency, said.

Chatterjee was being taken to ESI Hospital at Kolkata's Joka for a medical check-up today.

The 69-year-old politician suspended from ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) party on Thursday, 28 July, and removed from all party posts “till the investigation is underway.”

He was also relieved of his duties as minister-in-charge of various departments. The de facto number three was the party’s secretary general, a member of the disciplinary committee and the national vice-president.

Chatterjee had on Friday, 29 July, asserted that he was a victim of a conspiracy and expressed unhappiness over the party's decision to suspend him.

"This decision (to suspend me) could influence an impartial probe…," he had said.

Rs 50 Cr Recovered From Arpita Mukherjee, Partha's Close Aide

Meanwhile, Arpita Mukherjee, his close aide, has also been arrested by the ED after the central agency recovered Rs 27.9 crore in cash along with gold jewellery from her apartment on Thursday.

A day earlier, ED had said it recovered cash amounting to Rs 20 crore from Mukherjee's Belgharia flat.

In total, around Rs 50 crore in cash has been seized by the central agency so far, PTI reported officials as saying.

Meanwhile, Mukherjee has been remanded in the ED's custody for 10 days. She will be produced on 3 August for the next hearing in the case.

What is the WB Scam All About?

The CBI, as directed by Calcutta High Court, is probing the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of Group-C and D staff, as well as teachers in government-sponsored and -aided schools on the recommendations of the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC).

The senior minister was questioned twice earlier this year —26 April and 18 May — in connection with the case.

Meanwhile, the ED alleged wrongdoings by him, as he held the education portfolio in the state government when the scam allegedly took place.

The charge levelled against Chatterjee is that he provided jobs in exchange for money to those candidates who had obtained lower marks in the exam over those who had cleared the exam on merit.