Arrested leader Partha Chatterjee suspended from TMC, removed from all posts
- Partha Chatterjee, who is in ED custody currently, was removed from the Bengal cabinet earlier today
Arrested leader Partha Chatterjee has been suspended from TMC, removed from all posts, the party's national gen secretary Abhishek Banerjee informed on Thursday. Chatterjee was arrested on Saturday on money-laundering charges linked to the SSC (School Service Commission) scam. He was accused of a role in alleged illegal appointments of schoolteachers and staff in government-run schools when he was the state Education Minister. Currently, he is in Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody.
Partha Chatterjee expelled from cabinet
Earlier in the day, West Bengal government removed Chatterjee from the ministry. For the time being, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will look after the portfolios that were with him.
"Partha Chatterjee, minister in charge, department of industry, commerce and enterprises, department of information technology and electronics, department of parliamentary affairs and department of public enterprises and industrial reconstruction, is hereby relieved of his duties as MIC of the aforesaid department with immediate effect," an official order said.
₹27.9 crore in cash, gold recovered
Meanwhile, ED recovered ₹27.9 crore in cash, besides a huge amount of gold jewellery from an apartment linked to Arpita Mukherjee, a close associate of Chatterjee.
The stacks of cash were recovered from the apartment in Belgharia on Wednesday, and after overnight counting, it amounted to ₹27.90 crore, an ED official said. The value of the gold jewellery, believed to be in kgs is yet to be ascertained.
Last week, the agency seized more than ₹21 crore in cash, besides jewellery and foreign exchange from another flat of Mukherjee in south Kolkata's Tollygunge area. She was later arrested.
After questioning Mukherjee, ED officials on Wednesday conducted coordinated raids at various properties at Rajdanga in south Kolkata and Belgharia in the northern fringes of the city.
ED sleuths had to break open a door to get into the two flats in Belgharia's Rathtala locality as the keys to open them could not be spotted, they said adding, several "vital" documents were also found in the flats during a search
In all, nearly ₹50 crore in cash has been seized so far, officials said.
(With inputs from agencies)