SSC Scam: ED Attaches Partha Chatterjee & Aide's Assets of Over Rs 48 Crore

The ED claimed that several of the attached assets were registered in the name of shell companies.

Partha Chatterjee and his close aide Arpita Mukherjee were arrested by the ED on 23 July in connection with its probe into the multi-crore teacher recruitment scam.

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday, 19 September, said that it had attached assets worth Rs 48.22 crore, "beneficially owned" by former minister Partha Chatterjee and his alleged associate Arpita Mukherjee, as part of the money laundering investigation in the alleged West Bengal teachers' recruitment scam.

"The attached properties are found to be beneficially owned by Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee," a statement released by the ED said.

It also said that the attached properties include 40 immovable assets, such as a farmhouse, flats, and "prime land" located in Kolkata, worth Rs 40.33 crore, apart from the Rs 7.89 crore worth of deposits placed in 35 bank accounts.

They agency further claimed that several of the attached properties were registered in the name of shell companies and persons acting as proxies for Chatterjee.

Background

Chatterjee was arrested on 23 July by the ED in connection with alleged irregularities in the recruitment of teachers, teaching, and non-teaching staff through the West Bengal School Service Commission during his tenure as the education minister of West Bengal.

At least Rs 50 crore worth of unaccounted cash, along with jewellery, land deeds, foreign currency, and several properties in Mukherjee's name and linked to Chatterjee, were found by the ED. Multiple companies and properties linked to the two accused were also found.

(With inputs from PTI.)