Chatterjee’s arrest came after a prolonged interrogation of over 26 hours, which began on Friday morning, in which over a dozen documents were seized from his Nakatla residence.
#watch | West Bengal cabinet minister and former state education minister Partha Chatterjee in ESI Joka Medi… https://t.co/1c7St51bUL
— The Times of India (@timesofindia) 1658564892000
“He was not cooperating with our officers who were questioning him since Friday morning.
An ED official said, he will be produced in the court during the day.
Arpita Mukherjee, a close aide of the minister, has also been arrested. The ED had recovered unaccounted cash worth Rs 20 crore from Mukherjee’s residence in south Kolkata a day earlier.
Chests brought to the flat of Chatterjee’s aide Arpita Mukherjee to clear the pile of unaccounted cash and other valuables seized by the ED
Former bureaucrat Sukant Acharya, who was associated with Partha Chatterjee as his personal secretary since 2011, was also questioned by ED officials and later taken into custody.
The Trinamool minister was taken to Joka ESI Medical College Hospital for investigation after his arrest. From there he was taken to the Kolkata Sessions Court (Bankshall Court).
Chatterjee told reporters outside the hospital that he tried to contact Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, but things did not materialise. Sources said that he will be produced in the court today.
Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee said that they are yet to receive any information from the ED about the arrest of Partha Chatterjee. According to the Constitution, it is mandatory for the ED to inform about the arrest of any MLA, he said.
Chatterjee was the state education minister when the alleged scam took place and the ED is probing the money laundering aspect of those allegedly involved in it.
The agency on Friday conducted simultaneous raids at the homes of former West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) advisor Shanti Prasad Sinha, former West Bengal Board of Secondary Education chairman Kalyanmoy Ganguly and nine others.
The CBI, directed by the Calcutta High Court, is probing alleged irregularities in 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. The ED is tracking the money trail in the scam.
Chatterjee, currently the Minister of Industries and Commerce, was also questioned twice by the CBI, once on April 26 and again on May 18.
In its first reaction, the Trinamool appeared to distance itself from the controversy. Party general secretary and spokesperson Kunal Ghosh denied any connection of the party or the state government with the development, especially with the issue of recovery of huge amounts of cash from the residence of Chatterjee’s confidant and close aide Arpita Mukherjee.
“It rests on the person or his lawyer from whose residence a huge amount of cash has been recovered,” Ghosh said.
Meanwhile, the BJP said the roots of the scam go back to “top-level leaders” of the TMC, including MPs and MLAs.
He further said, “Yesterday, a TMC leader said that if any of the TMC leaders suffered mental trauma, they would not spare the CBI. They tried to stop the central agencies. From Birbhum district president who last week Was caught, assets worth Rs 150 crore have been recovered.” watch West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee arrested by ED