New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said Monday that she did not support corruption or any form of wrongdoing after a senior minister in her Cabinet was arrested last week in a cash-for-jobs scam.
“If anyone is found guilty, he or she must be punished,” Mamata said, adding, “But I condemn the malicious campaign against me.”
She also said the Bharatiya Janata Party was wrong if it thought it could break her party using central agencies. “Truth must come out but within a time frame,” Mamata said.
BJP is wrong if it thinks it can break my party using agencies: CM Mamata Banerjee after minister Partha Chatterjee's arrest by ED
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 25, 2022
Senior Trinamool Congress leader and Industries Minister Partha Chatterjee was arrested Saturday by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on money-laundering charges in the appointment of teachers and teaching staff by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education in government-sponsored and aided schools.
The present industries minister held the education portfolio when illegal appointments took place, it is alleged.
Around Rs 20 crore cash was recovered from the home of Chatterjee’s close aide Arpita Mukherjee last week – a key reason behind Chatterjee’s arrest. Mukherjee, an actor-cum-model, has also been arrested.
The ED has said the cash was “proceeds of the crime”.
Earlier Monday, doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Bhubaneshwar said that Chatterjee did not need immediate hospitalisation.
Before being taken to AIIMS, the minister was admitted in the SSKM Hospital in Kolkata as he complained of uneasiness after the arrest.
But the ED opposed Chatterjee’s hospitalisation in the state, saying he would wield undue influence. He was then airlifted to Bhubaneshwar where doctors did not think much of his “ill health”.
The Ed has now sought 14 days custody of the minister.
Meanwhile, reports suggest Chatterjee had called the chief minister within hours of his arrest Saturday, and dialled her two more times after his first call went unanswered. Mamata did not pick up the other calls either.
Soon after Chatterjee’s arrest, Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh had tweeted: “The money recovered by the ED has nothing to do with the Trinamool. It is the responsibility of those named in this investigation, or their lawyers, to answer questions. The party is keeping an eye on the campaign that is targetting Trinamool. We will respond at the right time.”
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