Partha Chatterjee, Arpita Mukherjee remanded in ED custody till Friday

KOLKATA: Former West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee and his close associate Arpita Mukherjee, arrested on July 23 on money laundering charges, will continue to remain in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) till August 5, a Kolkata court ruled on Wednesday.

“ED sought four days custody for both Chatterjee and Mukherjee. The court granted two days of custody. We are happy with the order. The court has also given us access to meet our client for 15 minutes on Thursday,” said Arpita Mukherjee’s lawyer Niladri Bhattacharya.

Chatterjee and Mukherjee were arrested on July 23 for their alleged involvement in the multi-crore recruitment scam in government schools in West Bengal between 2014 and 2021. Chatterjee was then the state education minister. In the raids that followed, investigators found over ₹50 crore in cash at locations linked to the accused leading West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to drop Partha Chatterjee from her cabinet.

As ED officials produced Chatterjee before the Kolkata judge designated to hear money laundering cases on Wednesday, Mamata Banerjee inducted eight new ministers at an oath ceremony held at Raj Bhavan into a council of ministers.

“The court was told that Arpita was cooperating more than Partha during interrogation. The two need to be interrogated further as properties including cash, gold, companies and flats have been unearthed and many more need to be dug up. Every day fresh facts related to properties are surfacing,” said an ED official.

To date, the agency has allegedly recovered around ₹50 crore in cash, gold worth ₹5 crore, US dollars worth ₹54 lakh, multiple companies including those dealing in real estate, textile and specialized machinery, all with very little share capitals, shops dealing with nail-art and at least nine flats, mostly in the name of these companies.

Officials said that interrogation has also revealed that the duo hold 50% share each in a company named APA Utility Services that owns at least four flats.

“ED has made this allegation in the remand application and has mentioned just two lines. They can write whatever they want in the remand stage but they would have to ultimately produce supporting documents,” said Bhattacharya.

On Wednesday ED conducted fresh raids at a farmhouse in Santiniketan. ED officials said that while the plot was purchased jointly by Chatterjee and Mukherjee in 2012, the mutation was done in the name of Arpita Mukherjee in 2020.

“Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee have been spotted multiple times together in the farmhouse named ‘APA’. People here say that the abbreviation stands for Arpita Partha. A caretaker used to look after the house,” said a local resident.

ED officials left the agency’s Kolkata office early on Wednesday in a convoy of six vehicles and started their raid at the farmhouse around 11:15 am. The search operation lasted for more than seven hours.

ED officials could be seen digging up a portion of the soil in the backyard of the house. A senior official said that during the search, officials came across some lose soil in the backyard and check whether something was hidden there.

“ED has made certain allegations but has not given us any documents. Until they submit the chargesheet, we can’t say anything,” said Partha Chatterjee’s counsel Debashish Roy.