ED seizes ₹27.9 crore in cash, 6 kg gold from Aprita Mukherjee’s second flat

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) recovered ₹27.9 crore in cash and six kg of gold jewellery from another Kolkata flat owned by Aprita Mukherjee, aide of Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee, during raids on Wednesday (July 27).

The gold and jewellery recovered is worth ₹4.31 crore (3 gold bricks of 1 kg each, 6 Bangles of 500 gram each among other jewellery and one gold pen).

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The unaccounted money was found five days after the agency seized more than ₹21 crore in cash, besides jewellery and foreign exchange from another flat of Mukherjee, who was also arrested on July 23.

The demand for dismissal of Chatterjee from the cabinet grew louder from within the ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition parties.

The federal anti-money laundering agency, probing the money trail of the teacher recruitment scam, also grilled TMC MLA Manik Bhattacharya, a former president of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education.

Since Wednesday morning, ED officials have conducted coordinated raids at various properties at Rajdanga in south Kolkata and Belgharia in the northern fringes of the city, which were reportedly owned by Mukherjee. During questioning, she informed the ED about those properties.

ED sleuths had to break open a door to get into two flats in Belgharia’s Rathtala locality as the keys to open them could not be spotted, an official said.

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“Bundles of cash were recovered from a shelf while inspecting Arpita’s flat located in Belgharia Town Club in Kolkata. It took several hours to count the notes with the help of bank officials and counting machines,” an ED official said. The counting went on till 5:30 am on Thursday (July 28).

Arpita Mukherjee is already in ED custody and is being interrogated over her involvement in the case.

(With inputs from agencies)