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ED charges ex-Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee, his aide & 6 firms; properties worth Rs 103 crore attached

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday filed its first chargesheet against former Bengal Education minister Partha Chatterjee, his close aide Arpita Mukherjee and six other firms over their alleged role & complicity in the teachers recruitment scam in the state. The ED chargesheet was filed in the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act …

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday filed its first chargesheet against former Bengal Education minister Partha Chatterjee, his close aide Arpita Mukherjee and six other firms over their alleged role & complicity in the teachers recruitment scam in the state.

The ED chargesheet was filed in the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Kolkata and includes 6 firms namely – M/s Echhay Entertainment Pvt Ltd, M/s Ananta Texfab Pvt Ltd, M/s Symbiosis Merchants Pvt Ltd, M/s Sentry Engineering Pvt Ltd, M/s Viewmore Highrise Pvt Ltd and M/s APA Utility Services.

The ED also attached properties amounting to Rs 103 crore, in connection with financial irregularities in the teachers scam. The attachment included immovable property worth Rs 40 crore, gold & jewellery valued at 5 crore, bank accounts with over 7 crore deposits and cash seizure to the tune of Rs 50 crore from their 2 flats in Tollygunge & Belgharia.

The investigative agency claims that the accused amassed proceeds of crime earned from the illegal School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment during his reign as Education Minister. However, Partha denied the same and said that he used to merely sign the papers & documents that reached department for his approval.

The accused are currently in judicial custody and will be produced against before the court on 28th September. Former Bengal minister was arrested by the ED sleuths along with his aide on 23rd July.

The ED has also said that it is probing about 100 bank accounts with dubious transactions. It says in the chargesheet, that many of the illegal properties were kept in name of ‘dummy firms’ and other persons acting as the proxy of Partha Chatterjee.