Preliminary investigations have revealed that Arpita Mukherjee, the “close associate” of arrested West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee, was running at least 12 shell companies for “financial manoeuvres”, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said .
The development came even as Chatterjee was shifted to AIIMS Bhubaneswar on Monday after the Calcutta High Court observed that leaders belonging to Trinamool congress (TMC) had avoided ED quizzing by taking shelter in SSKM Hospital in Kolkata. Shortly later, doctors at AIIMS Bhubaneswar said that the West Bengal minister does not require immediate hospitalisation.
As reported earlier by Times Now, ED had urged the court that Chatterjee be taken to Command hopsital instead of state-run SSKM. On Friday, the Enforcement Directorate raided the residence of Chatterjee and Paresh Adhikari and others and recovered Rs 20 crore in cash from the premises of Arpita Mukherjee. The amount is believed to be proceeds of the alleged SSC scam. The probe officials have also sought help from banking officials for counting the cash recovered from the raids.
BJP using agencies against TMC: Mamata
According to reports citing ED officials, over 20 mobile phones were also seized from the premises belonging to Arpita Mukherjee. The agency is probing the purpose of the mobile phones. Officials in the know also said that several incriminating materials, which include documents, papers related to dubious companies, electronic devices, gold and foreign currency has also been recoevered from the premises linked to the individuals.
Meanwhile, TMC chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, hit out at the BJP for ‘using agencies’ to break her party. “BJP is wrong if it thinks it can break my party using agencies… If anyone is found guilty, he or she must be punished, but I condemn malicious campaign against me,” she said.
