Kolkata: West Bengal police have arrested members of Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for holding protests against the state government over the SSC scam. In a video tweeted by, ABVP members are seen dragged on the road by the police.
The Scam busting event began on Friday (July 22) when Enforcement Directorate (ED) initiated direct action on the probe into the multi-crore West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment irregularities scam by simultaneously conducting raids in 13 locations across the state, including Partha Chatterjee’s home, a former West Bengal education minister and Trinamool Congress secretary-general.
Soon, after getting the information about Partha Chatterjee’s aide Arpita Mukherjee, ED began conducting search operations at her flat located in posh Diamond City Complex in Tollygunge in south Kolkata, wherein they found a huge chunk of cash worth Rs 21.20 crore, foreign currencies worth around Rs 60 lakhs, gold ornaments worth around Rs 90 lakhs, 20 high-end Apple iPhones, sale deeds of eight flats and documents of multiple high-end passenger vehicles.
ED also found 2 mysterious diaries, full of coded messages which ED tried to decipher with the help of experts. One diary was named ‘Department of Education-Government of West Bengal’ and the other one was a personal diary. However, after due investigation, ED found out that the handwriting does not match either of them, which suggested the involvement of a third person.
Arpita Mukherjee suggested Monalisa Das, a close associate of Partha Chatterjeethe head of the department of Bengali at state-run Kazi Nazrul University in Asansol in Burdwan district. ED found 10 homes under her name which poses questions as the rates of those flats are higher as compared to her income. ED tried to figure out the exact asset owned by the former West Bengal Education Minister. Initial estimates suggested being more than 100 crores.
Since the beginning of the probe, Partha Chatterjee has remained isolated within his own party. First, it was the senior leaders of Trinamool Congress, and finally, the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee herself had made it clear that the onus of the entire development is on Chatterjee and not on the party or the state government. The chief minister even went to the extent of saying that if the accused (Chatterjee) is proved guilty, he might be imprisoned for life.
Partha Chatterjee has been arrested on 23 July along with her aide, Arpita Mukherjee. Both have been sent to judicial custody till August 18.
At present, CBI has begun preparations to interrogate both of them for the same corruption case.
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