Bengal scam: Fourth house of Partha Chatterjee's aide Arpita Mukherjee raided

After finding almost Rs 28 crore in cash and Rs 4.3 crore of gold in one of the apartments of Trinamool leader Partha Chatterjee's close aide Arpita Mukherjee, the Enforcement Directorate is now searching the fourth residence - a flat at Chinar Park on Thursday. 

Till now, four homes of Mukherjee have been raided. These include Diamond City flat raided by ED on 22 July, two flats searched by the investigation agency at Belghoria on Wednesday and one today.

The agency had recovered Rs 21 crore from her first apartment. 

The probe agency is raiding her residences in connection with an alleged teacher recruitment scam in West Bengal. The amounts discovered is believed to be the proceeds of the crime. 

However, Mukherjee told the agency that the piles and piles of cash recovered from her home belonged to state minister Partha Chatterjee. She said that the money was infused in companies linked to her. 

Meanwhile, the West Bengal government on Thursday removed Partha Chatterjee from the ministry with immediate effect.

''Partha Chatterjee, minister in charge, department of industry, commerce and enterprises, department of information technology and electronics, department of parliamentary affairs and department of public enterprises and industrial reconstruction, is hereby relieved of his duties as MIC of the aforesaid department with immediate effect,'' an official order said.

The ED had arrested Chatterjee, who is also the Trinamool Congress secretary-general, on July 23 in connection with its investigation into alleged irregularities in the recruitment drives by the School Service Commission (SSC). The central agency has also arrested Arpita Mukherjee, and seized crores of rupees from her houses in different parts of the city.

(With inputs from India Today)