‘She has 10 flats’: Dilip Ghosh says another person under ED scanner in SSC scam

BJP leader Dilip Ghosh on Saturday claimed that another person, Monalisa Das, is under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the school jobs scam in West Bengal.

"Another person under the radar of the ED is one Monalisa Das, under whose name 10 flats are registered. She is also linked to Bangladesh," Ghosh said in Bengali at a press conference.

Das is reportedly a Bengali professor at Kazi Nazrul University in West Bengal's Asansol.

Ghosh made the claim even as West Bengal industry and commerce minister Partha Chatterjee was arrested by the ED earlier in the day in connection with its investigation into the alleged school jobs scam.

He was later produced before a judge in the Bankshall court and sent to the ED custody for two days.

The Trinamool Congress secretary general, who was the state education minister when the alleged irregularities took place, was arrested after around 26 hours of grilling in his residence in connection with the probe since Friday morning.

The ED also arrested Chatterjee's close aide Arpita Mukherjee, from whose property ₹21 crore in cash was allegedly seized during a raid on Friday.

Chatterjee, who was the state education minister from 2014 to 2021, was grilled by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in April and May this year in connection with the scam.

The TMC, which maintained a stoic silence on the issue, later in the evening called an emergency meeting at TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee's office to decide on the party's stand on the issue.

"We are keeping a close watch on the situation. We will come out with a statement at an appropriate time," TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.

Speaker Biman Banerjee said that the ED must inform the speaker before arresting a member of the assembly.

"The ED or CBI, while arresting any MP or MLA, has to inform the speaker of the Lok Sabha or the state assembly. This is the constitutional norm. But I have not received any communication from the ED about Chatterjee's arrest," he said.

The opposition BJP went hammer and tongs over the development and demanded a reply from the chief minister.

"The CM must issue a statement over the arrest of a cabinet minister. The arrest proves that the TMC is knee-deep in corruption," BJP national vice president Dilip Ghosh said.

BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said Chatterjee's arrest reflects the "Bengal model of development" practised by TMC leaders.

"The seizure of ₹21 crore in cash is just the tip of the iceberg. The CM should come out with a reply on this," he said.

(With inputs from agencies)