Huge cash found again from another flat of arrested Bengal minister’s aide

The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday again found a large amount of cash in another flat of Arpita Mukherjee, considered a close associate of West Bengal Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee who was arrested in connection with the school recruitment scam, an official said.

The central agency also arrested Mukherjee on July 23, a day after unearthing unaccounted cash worth over Rs 21 crore from her flat in south Kolkata. This time, the cash was found in another apartment owned by her at Belgharia in the northern fringes of the city.

ED sleuths had to break open a door to get into two flats in Belghoria’s Rathtala locality as the keys to open them could not be spotted, the official said.

“We have found a good amount of money from one of the flats in a housing complex. We have brought three note counting machines to know the exact amount,” he told PTI when contacted. Several “vital” documents were also found in the flats during a search.

During questioning, Mukherjee informed the ED about her properties in and around Kolkata. Since Wednesday morning, the agency has been conducting raids at those properties. Asked about the questioning of the minister and Mukherjee, the official said that though she has been “cooperative throughout”, Chatterjee was not.

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.