Bengal recruitment scam: Partha Chatterjee refuses to tell ED everything, aide Arpita cooperates

Sources said the Enforcement Directorate evaded during interrogation after West Bengal minister and veteran Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjee was arrested in connection with the teacher recruitment scam.

Chatterjee’s alleged “close aide” Arpita Mukherjee, who was arrested in the same case, was questioned by ED officials. But when he cooperated with the investigating agency, the minister was constantly coming under fire for grilling, sources said.

The ED on Saturday arrested Chatterjee in connection with its probe into alleged irregularities in the recruitment drive by the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC). Mukherjee, from whose house the agency had earlier recovered Rs 21 crore in cash, held even hours later,

Read | SSC scam: ED finds black diary containing explosive details from residence of aide of Partha Chatterjee

Here’s how the first round of questioning went and what the two accused were asked:

• Bengal Industries and Commerce Minister Partha Chatterjee Bhubaneswar returned from AIIMS to Kolkata On a Tuesday morning flight. When the minister was seen using a wheelchair during his journey from Kolkata to Bhubaneswar for a medical check-up a day earlier, he boarded the ED’s vehicle on foot after landing at the Kolkata airport.
• He was taken straight to the agency’s office in Salt Lake from Kolkata airport this morning. Arpita Mukherjee, who appeared in the special court, was brought to the CGO’s office After the ED secured his custody, She was kept overnight in the women’s lockup of the agency.
• The interrogation of both the suspects started at 10.30 am on Tuesday. They were interrogated separately in two rooms. According to ED sources, Partha Chatterjee was asked about several property documents, appointment letters for school teachers and photocopies of admit cards seized from his house.
• When the alleged appointment scam happened, the senior Trinamool Congress leader took over the education department. Chatterjee was asked why He still had so many documents related to the education department Despite being the Minister of Industry now. The minister was also questioned about several documents of property recovered from his house.
• At the same time, a team of detectives, including a woman officer, interrogated Arpita Mukherjee in another room just next to Chatterjee. Mukherjee was asked about its source Around Rs 22 crore recovered from his residenceWas it the proceeds of crime from the alleged teacher recruitment scam, and whether the cash recovered from his house was given by Partha Chatterjee.
• According to ED sources, Arpita Mukherjee answered a number of questions asked by detectives in her investigation to unearth money laundering allegedly in the teacher recruitment scam. He disclosed important information during interrogation and the agency will proceed with the investigation on the basis of information received from him on Tuesday.
• ED sources further said that they will soon send attendance notices to several businessmen including TMC councilors involved in the inner circle of Partha Chatterjee in the School Service Commission scam case.
• Meanwhile, a team of ED officials visited Vikas Bhawan, the headquarters of the School Education Department of West Bengal, on Tuesday afternoon. Investigating officers talked to many top officials of the education department. According to sources, the education department officials were asked:

On whose instructions the illegal teacher recruitment drive was conducted?

– What exactly was the role of Partha Chatterjee as Education Minister in illegally recruiting teachers?

Who else was involved in this scam other than the Ministry of Education.

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