The denial comes eight days after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate, inviting immediate retaliation from the Trinamool Congress, of which he was general secretary till last Thursday. “What took him so long to say that?” Party spokesperson Kunali Ghosh Told. “When he first got the chance, why didn’t he say it was a conspiracy, and the money was not his? At this rate, he might as well say that he doesn’t know who Parth is Chatterjee Is. or maybe he doesn’t know Arpita Mukherjee.”
At around 1.50 pm at ESI Hospital in Joka, Chatterjee had got down from an ED vehicle when a reporter asked him about the ownership of crores seized from Arpita’s flats. “Shomoy eli bujhe jabeen (you will know when the time comes),” he said after denying the money was his.
Reiterating that he was the victim of a “conspiracy”, he declined to name anyone who could have framed him.
Earlier, expressing dismay over being dropped from the state cabinet and suspended from the Trinamool, Chatterjee had said the party’s move could affect an “independent inquiry”.
On that occasion, spokesperson Ghosh said it was up to Chatterjee to prove his innocence. “Let him say whatever he has to say in court. Now the proof, the photo, the work, the fingerprints… all have come to the fore. He should have said it the first time.”
Lok Sabha MP Saugata Roy also spoke in the same manner. “He is in ED custody now. Such statements made during custody have no significance.” “His own work has brought disrepute to the party. We don’t want to give any importance to his statements,” he said.
The ED will produce Chatterjee and Arpita in a Kolkata court on Wednesday.