Highlights
- A city court on Sunday remanded Arpita Mukherjee to one-day Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody
- Mukherjee was arrested by the ED on Saturday after grilling her for several hours at her residence
- Crores of rupees in cash and other valuables were recovered at her posh residence in Kolkata
Bengal SSC scam: A city court on Sunday remanded Arpita Mukherjee, an alleged close associate of arrested West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee, to one-day Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody.
Mukherjee was arrested by the ED on Saturday after grilling her for several hours at her residence in a posh apartment block in south Kolkata, where crores of rupees in cash and other valuables were allegedly recovered by sleuths of the central agency.
Metropolitan Magistrate Namrata Singh, in charge of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court, directed that Mukherjee be produced before the designated ED court on Monday.
ED counsels, including Abhijit Bhadra, had prayed for 14 days’ custody of Mukherjee. Chatterjee, the West Bengal Industry and Commerce Minister, was arrested by the ED on Saturday in connection with its investigation into an alleged school jobs scam.
The Enforcement Directorate arrested Chatterjee, a senior Trinamool Congress leader, earlier in the day and produced him before a judge in the Bankshall court, who remanded him to two days of ED custody. The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court did not hear the matter as it is Saturday. He was arrested after around 26 hours of grilling at his residence.
The CBI, as directed by the Calcutta High Court, is looking into 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. The ED is tracking the money trail in the scam.
The ED on Friday carried out simultaneous raids at the houses of around a dozen people, including two ministers, in connection with its investigation into the teacher recruitment scam in West Bengal and seized around Rs 20 crore in cash, said sources in the agency.
Also Read: West Bengal SSC scam: Minister Partha Chatterjee remanded to two-day ED custody
