SSC Scam: West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee, aide Arpita Mukherjee sent to ED custody till August 3

Kolkata/Bhubaneswar: The Bankshall court late on Monday evening sent TMC minister Partha Chatterjee and his close aide Arpita Mukherjee to Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody till August 3.

“Considering the materials on record, the medical report submitted by the AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, and submission as advanced by the Ld. Advocate of both sides, this Court thinks it expedient to allow the prayer for police custody of further 10 days each to the accused persons namely Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee and both the accused persons namely Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee are remanded to PC of ED till 03.08.2022,” read the court’s order.

The court ordered that Arpita cannot be quizzed from 9 pm to 6 am and also that a female officer should be present during her quizzing.

According to ED sources, the central agency wants to quiz both of the accused together.

“We have informed the court that not just 21 crore rupees, the scam involves crores of rupees. We want to quiz both Chatterjee and Arpita together and ED custody was necessary for further probe,” mentioned the ED sources.

The ED sources also confirmed that ED should keep necessary medical assistance for both the accused while quizzing.

Earlier this day, ED said that Chatterjee is not cooperating with the central agency and initially even refused to sign the arrest memo.

ED also on Monday had submitted several new properties found under both Chatterjee and Arpita.

According to ED sources, Chatterjee had given jobs to 10 family members of his security personnel and the agency wants to quiz them to further the probe.

ED also recovered a black diary of the education department from Arpita’s house which contains several valuable pieces of information.

Meanwhile, due to some unavoidable reasons, Partha Chatterjee will stay at AIIMS on Monday night and will be brought back on Tuesday morning.