Arrested Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee, who is at the centre of a multi-crore school job scam, on Sunday claimed that the money recovered during Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids does not belong to him, and only time will tell who all have “conspired” against him.
As he de-boarded a vehicle outside ESI Hospital at Joka, where he was taken for a medical check-up, Chatterjee, on being approached by reporters, said, “The money (recovered) is not mine.”
Asked further if anybody was conspiring against him, he said, “You will get to know when the time comes.” Later, on his exit from the hospital, Chatterjee reiterated that the money didn’t belong to him, and he “has never been involved in such dealings”.
Nearly Rs 50 crore in cash along with gold, value of which is still being ascertained, were recovered from apartments linked to Arpita Mukherjee, one of Chatterjee’s close aides, besides documents of properties, as per officials of the ED, the agency that arrested him.
Chatterjee had on Friday asserted that he was a victim of a conspiracy and expressed unhappiness over TMC’s decision to suspend him. His close aide, Mukherjee, has also been arrested by the ED. The TMC leadership has taken exception to his comments, contending that Chatterjee is himself responsible for his fate.
The CBI, as directed by Calcutta High Court, is probing the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of Group-C and -D staff, as well as teachers in government-sponsored and -aided schools, on the recommendations of the West Bengal School Service Commission.
The ED is looking into the money trail involved in the scam. Chatterjee had held the education portfolio when the scam was allegedly pulled off.
With inputs from News18
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