Gold, Rs 28 crore in cash found at apartment linked to West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee
Kolkata, July 28: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has recovered Rs 27.9 crore in cash, besides a huge amount of gold jewellery from an apartment linked to Arpita Mukherjee, considered a close associate of arrested West Bengal Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee, officials said on Thursday morning.
The stacks of cash were recovered from the apartment in Belgharia on Wednesday, and after overnight counting, it amounted to Rs 27.90 crore, they said.
The investigators are still ascertaining the value of the gold jewellery, believed to be in kgs, they added.
The money and gold were found five days after the agency seized more than Rs 21 crore in cash, besides jewellery and foreign exchange from another flat of Mukherjee in south Kolkata's Tollygunge area, following which she was arrested.
In all, nearly Rs 50 crore in cash has been seized so far, officials said.
ED officials on Wednesday conducted coordinated raids at various properties at Rajdanga in south Kolkata and Belgharia in the northern fringes of the city.
During questioning, Mukherjee informed the ED about those properties, officials said.
ED sleuths had to break open a door to get into the two flats in Belgharia's Rathtala locality as the keys to open them could not be spotted, they said.
Several "vital" documents were also found in the flats during a search, the official said.
Chatterjee, a powerful minister in Mamata Banerjee government and the secretary-general of Trinamool Congress, was arrested on Saturday after the cash was found at Mukherjee's Tollygunge flat.
The CBI, as directed by the Calcutta High Court, is probing the alleged irregularities committed in the recruitment of Group-C and D staff as well as teachers in government-sponsored and aided schools on recommendations of the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC). The ED is tracking the money trail in the scam.
Chatterjee was the education minister when the alleged irregularities took place.
WB SSC recruitment scam | North 24-Parganas: ED officials leave the Belgharia residence of Arpita Mukherjee, close aide of WB Minister Partha Chatterjee, after filling 10 trunks with cash amounting to approx Rs 29cr found there; a total of Rs 40cr found from her premises so far. pic.twitter.com/t9gEIHyb08
— ANI (@ANI) July 28, 2022
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Vijay unable to prove majority, not invited for CM oath ceremony: Sources
Chennai: Actor-politician Vijay has reportedly not been invited to take oath as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu after failing to demonstrate support from the required number of MLAs, sources in Raj Bhavan said.
According to media reports that quoted sources in the office of R.N. Ravi Arlekar, Vijay could not prove the backing of 118 legislators, the majority mark in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly.
Despite last-minute efforts to secure support from the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazagam (AMMK), and an IUML legislator, Vijay reportedly managed support from only 116 MLAs, falling short by two members.
Sources said Vijay failed to submit letters of support from the VCK and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).
Later, the IUML issued a statement clarifying that it was not part of the TVK-led alliance.
Meanwhile, AMMK leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran is also said to have informed the Governor that his party would support the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) instead.
Earlier in the evening, Vijay had met Governor Arlekar and staked claim to form the government, stating that he enjoyed the support of 118 MLAs.
