ED arrests woman from whose flat Rs 21 crore in cash was found

Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested a woman, a close associate of senior West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee, on Saturday, a day after unearthing unaccounted cash worth Rs 21 crore from her flat in Kolkata, an official of the agency said.

Arpita Mukherjee’s arrest came hours after the central agency arrested Chatterjee in connection with its probe into the alleged school jobs scam.

Some foreign currencies and jewellery were also seized from her high-end apartment in the city’s Joka area, the official added.

The woman who was interrogated for several hours by the ED was arrested after she failed to give a proper explanation why so much money was there in her flat.

“It seems that she has some links to the scam. She could not tell us the source of the money. We will produce her in court tomorrow,” the official said.

The ED sleuths are planning to question Chatterjee and the arrested woman together as a part of the investigation, he added.

The central agency also detained Chatterjee’s personal assistant Sukanta Acharya whose residence at New Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas district was raided by it on Friday in connection with the investigation.

The CBI, as directed by the Calcutta High Court, is looking into the alleged irregularities committed in the recruitment of Group-C and D staff as well as teachers in government-sponsored and –aided schools on recommendations of the West Bengal School Service Commission. The ED is tracking the money trail in the scam.

Chatterjee was the education minister when the alleged irregularities took place.

The ED on Friday carried out simultaneous raids at the houses of around a dozen people, including Chatterjee and another minister, in connection with its investigation into the recruitment scam.