Money placed in my house without my knowledge, claims Arpita Mukherjee

Arpita Mukherjee, the close aide of suspended TMC leader Partha Chatterjee on Tuesday (August 2) said that the money and jewellery recovered from her houses was placed without her knowledge.

Both Mukherjee and Chatterjee are in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with its probe into a school recruitment scam.

ED sleuths have recovered around ₹50 crore in cash, along with jewellery, from her two flats in south-west Kolkata and Belghoria.

Both Mukherjee and Chatterjee will be in the custody of ED till August 3.

Both of them were taken to ESI Joka, on the southern outskirts of the city, for medical check-up, during the day.

Mukerjee, after deboarding a vehicle, told waiting reporters, “Money was kept in my residences without my knowledge.”

ED meanwhile is conducting raids at four places to find more details about the recruitment scam of Group C and D Staff, assistant teaches of Class IX and XII and primary teachers in which Chatterjee is allegedly involved.

Chatterjee, who has been suspended from the party and relieved of ministerial duties, earlier had claimed that he has nothing to do with the recovered money and that he was a victim of a conspiracy. The veteran leader had also said that only time would tell if the action against him was justified.

Both Chatterjee and Mukherjee have said that the money recovered did not belong to them. They will be produced before PMLA court on Wednesday, with the 10-day ED custody of the duo coming to an end.