Recruitment case: ED seizes ₹20 crore from another flat of Partha’s aide

The Enforcement Department (ED) conducted fresh raids and seized ₹15 crore in cash and 3 kgs of gold on Wednesday in connection with the teachers recruitment scam — in which West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee and his aide Arpita Mukherjee have been arrested— agency officials privy to the investigation said.

According to an ED official, the agency conducted raids at five places on Wednesday, including two flats owned by Mukherjee in Belgharia locality, near Kolkata. A “huge amount of cash” was found in one of the flats, said the official, asking not to be named.

“A huge amount of cash was recovered from the eighth-floor flat in tower 5 of the housing campus. Bank officials have been roped in along with four note counting machines,” said the official.

Till 9 pm , officials had counted ₹15 crore and seized 3 kgs of gold and the process was still going on.

Both Chatterjee and Mukherjee were arrested on July 23 in connection with the case and have been sent to ED custody by the court for questioning.

Aside from the Belgharia flats, Wednesday’s raids were also conducted at Mukherjee’s ancestral home in the same area; at an office in Kasba; and a flat in south Kolkata’s Ballygunge, said the official mentioned above.

At Ballygunge, officials raided the home of one Manoj Jain, who reportedly had links to Chatterjee. Jain and is also connected to a textile trader who has come under the agency’s scanner, said a second ED official, asking not to be named.

On July 22, the ED conducted raids at 14 places including the residences of two West Bengal ministers – Partha Chatterjee and Paresh Adhikari in connection with its investigation into the alleged irregularities. During the searches, the federal agency seized ₹21.9 crore cash, gold worth more than ₹70 lakh and foreign currency worth more than ₹50 lakh from a flat that belonged to Mukherjee.

Meanwhile, the ED also questioned Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislator and former chairman of the state primary education board, Manik Bhattacharya Wednesday, the agency had conducted raids in his house and had seized several items including some CDs.

Candidates who didn’t get jobs despite having cleared the school service commission examination have been protesting in for 500 days now.

“Raids are going on, the minister and his aide have been arrested and huge amounts of cash have been seized. But what about us? We have been protesting here for the last 500 days. We were deprived even though we were the deserving candidates. We would get justice only when the state government gives us our rightful jobs,” said Sayantani Mondol, a candidate.