Crores of cash but Arpita Mukherjee didn't pay ₹11,819 for flat maintenance | 10 points
Counting of cash in Arpita Mukherjee's Belgharia flat near Kolkata started at 6pm on Wednesday and finished at 4am on Thursday morning. Big counting machines were brought after ED officials found a similar stash of money as it was found in the earlier raid on another property of Arpita Mukherjee.
The multicore teacher recruitment scam on Wednesday took a new turn as the enforcement directorate recovered another ₹20 crore from another house of Arpita Mukherjee situated in Belgharia near Kolkata. The counting went on until 4am on Thursday morning and the agency said ₹28 crore and 5kg gold were recovered. BJP's Dilip Ghosh said the case is old but the investigation was progressing at a slow pace but now there is no escape. "Partha Chatterjee has been facing CBI, ED investigations for a long time which made him a tough nut to crack but Arpita Mukherjee has already started telling everything. We are listening," Ghosh said. Also Read | Recruitment case: ED seizes ₹20 crore from another flat of Partha’s aide
Here are the 10 latest updates on the scam and the ongoing raids.
1. The ED officials raided the Belghoria flat of Arpita Mukherjee after interrogating her, it is learnt. Two flats in Belghoria were raided on Wednesday. The money and gold were found in one.
2. The counting of notes began at 6pm on Wednesday and went on till 4am on Thursday. Large machines were brought to count the notes.
3. While the amount of the recovered money is likely to go beyond ₹20 crore, a notice was found on Arpita Mukherjee's house claiming that a maintenance amount of ₹11,819 was pending.
4. Reports said Arpita Mukherjee claimed that Partha Chatterjee used her house as a "mini bank".
5. Arrested minister Partha Chatterjee on Wednesday countered questions of resignations and said, "What is the reason (to tender the resignation)?"
6. An ED official said Arpita Mukherjee has been cooperative throughout the questioning but Partha Chatterjee has been very stubborn and not replying to questions.
7. Trinamool national spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said the recovery of the cash from Arpita Mukherjee's house has brought disgrace to the party. "He (Partha Chatterjee) is saying why he would quit as minister. Why is he not saying in the public domain that he is innocent? What is stopping him from doing that?" he said.
8. TMC's mouthpiece 'Jago Bangla' has stopped naming Partha Chatterjee either as a minister or the party's secretary general, though his party's name remains in the printer's line as its editor.
9. In a statement published in Jago Bangla, Kunal Ghosh apparently connected the ED action with Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, the vice presidential candidate of the NDA. "“The day we went to Raj Bhavan this month to submit our memorandum against Suvendu Adhikary, Dhankhar ji suddenly said he would not spare Partha Chatterjee as he had belittled his wife. We all tried to convince him that this might not be correct, but he was firm on his stand," the statement said,
10. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said anyone proven guilty must be punished but media trials are not acceptable and probe agencies must not be used to malign political parties.
(With inputs from Bureau, agencies)
