Arrested West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee ‘s close aide Arpita Mukherjee has claimed that the cash seized from her flats in Kolkata does not belong to her.
During interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate, Mukherjee said the Rs 49.8 crore cash seized from her two flats in Tollygunge and Belgharia was kept during her absence and she has no idea about it, reported ANI.
Last month, the former Bengal minister and Mukherjee were arrested in connection with SSC recruitment scam following several raids in Kolkata. ED sleuths had also recovered jewellery worth crores during searches.
Partha not cooperating: ED
The former TMC leader has stayed stubborn to the barrage of questions from investigators, saying that the huge seized cash was not his. Chatterjee’s stance has now prompted sleuths to probe his whereabouts, including obtaining CCTV footage from Belgharia’s Club Town Heights apartment.
When ED officers on Monday asked Chatterjee about the Rs 49.8 crore, Partha said he had heard about it. ED sources said that Chatterjee denied the cash belonged to him. He wouldn’t even divulge the source of money and if it came from a person or a group of people, the sources added. The ED officers, however, are not convinced.
The former minister’s “unyielding” stance has prompted ED officers to delve deep into the pattern of acquisition of huge properties, land, insurance policies and shell companies with fake addresses and look for secondary evidence for the alleged crime.
ED sources hinted that investigators were in touch with some “fund agents” in the districts and the city who used to raise the money from clients and carry them to particular places on Chatterjee’s instructions.
