Partha Chatterjee sacked: Scam-tainted Partha Chatterjee, arrested in the SSC scam, was on Thursday relieved from his post by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Chatterjee, the secretary-general of TMC, held the portfolios of Commerce & Industry, Parliamentary Affairs, Information Technology and Electronics, and Public Enterprises & Industrial Reconstruction in the state cabinet, which now will be looked after by CM herself.
Soon after the sacking, the nameplate of former West Bengal minister was removed from outside his cabin in Nabanna, Howrah. Also, Chatterjee has been removed from party along with the post of General Secretary, National vice president & three other posts.
TMC leaders have been expressing concern about public perception over the recovery of cash and gold. Ghosh had on Wednesday said Chatterjee brought "disgrace" to the party and "shame to all of us".
In her first reaction after sacking Chatterjee, Mamata said, "I have removed Partha Chatterjee as a minister. My party takes strict action. There are many plannings behind it but I don't want to go into details."
Earlier, the chief minister had said that if someone is found guilty, she would not spare that person, even if he is a minister.
Nearly Rs 50 crore in cash, and gold, believed to be in kilograms, were recovered from apartments linked to Chatterjee's close associate Arpita Mukherjee, besides documents of properties and foreign exchange, as per officials of the Enforcement Directorate, which arrested them.
Arpita Mukherjee confession
Arpita Mukherjee has told interrogators that the cash stashed in her apartment belonged to Partha Chatterjee. She claimed to the agency that the ‘minister’s men used to dump them at her places and that she had no access to that cash’, sources added.
TMC's mouthpiece "Jago Bangla" has stopped naming him either as a minister or the party's secretary-general. However, his name remains in the printer's line as its editor.
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