Rs 50 crore, 5 kg gold: What ED found from Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee

Getting a government job for many Indians is the ultimate goal. But what is the price? Merit is not the criteria in several places, it's kickbacks. In West Bengal's SSC scam involving the now Industries Minister Partha Chatterjee, the alleged kickbacks run into at least Rs 50 crore. 

More skeletons are tumbling out of the closet in the West Bengal government teacher recruitment scam. And it is not good news for Partha Chatterjee and the incumbent Mamata Banerjee-led state government.

The ED has been following the money trail in the case and the CBI is unravelling the nexus. The investigation has uncovered more damning details: 

1. The ED has recovered another Rs 28.90 crore in cash from Partha Chatterjee's aide Arpita Mukherjee's second apartment in Belgharia near northern Kolkata. Earlier, ED had recovered Rs 21 crore from Mukherjee's South Kolkata flat. 
2. They have also recovered 5 kg gold. The ED also said that a huge amount of money was recovered from the toilet of Mukherjee's second residence.
3. In addition to the cash and gold, the ED says they have found incriminating documents including a diary during raids. 
4. They also reportedly found an envelope containing Rs 5 lakh from Mukherjee's residence that was addressed to "minister in charge, department of higher education, school education, parliamentary affairs, the government of West Bengal". 
5. ED conducted raids in four places including Arpita Mukherjee's residence. 
6. ED officials also raided the residence of businessman Manoj Jain in Ballygunge, who is reportedly an aide of Partha Chatterjee.
7. The ED also found recommendation letters and other documents pertaining to the case written by party MLAs, former lawmakers, bureaucrats and former bureaucrats from Chatterjee's residence. 
8. The ED will reportedly contact the candidates found in the documents and question them about whether they got government jobs and their experience getting the posts. 

Arpita Mukherjee's revelations: According to the ED, Arpita Mukherjee has been cooperative in the interrogation while Partha Chatterjee has been evasive. 

1. Mukherjee reportedly told the ED that Chatterjee used her house and another woman's house as a 'mini bank'. She said that the other woman is also a close associate of Chatterjee. 
2. While there is no official word on who the other reported accomplice is, BJP's National Vice-President Dilip Ghosh says it's one named Monalisa Das, a professor who owns 10 flats in West Bengal. 
3. Mukherjee reportedly confessed to the ED that all the money belongs to Chatterjee and came from proceeds of crime as kickbacks. 
4. She also revealed that the money that has been seized by the ED recently was supposed to be moved into companies linked to her name in a few days, but the raids foiled the plans. 
5. Mukherjee also reportedly claimed that Chatterjee never brought the money to her place, instead, other people would frequently come and hide the money every 7-10 days.

Recap: The SSC scam in West Bengal has exposed the corrupt fault lines in the incumbent state government, even as the party leaders try to distance themselves from those involved. Partha Chatterjee, a minister in Mamata Banerjee's government, holds several portfolios right now. The scam reportedly took place when he was the Education Minister of West Bengal.

Chatterjee is also an important leader in the ruling TMC party. He is considered to be No 3 in command and a close associate of CM Mamata Banerjee. He also holds sway over the members of the party. After his arrest by the ED, he reportedly tried to contact Banerjee thrice but in vain. 

Arpita Mukherjee, the second person prominently involved in the case, is an actor and has appeared in some Bengali and Odia TV series and films. She was reportedly introduced to Chatterjee in 2016 by another actor and has been a close associate of the minister since then. Mukherjee was reportedly the face of a famous Durga Puja committee run by Partha Chatterjee.