What is Arpita Mukherjees connection to arrested West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee?

Following the arrest of West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the agency’s investigation into the teacher recruitment scam, questions have been raised who is the aide from whose house ED recovered INR 20 crore cash.

The ED officials recovered at least ₹20 crore cash from Arpita Mukherjee’s home in Kolkata on Friday, who is known to be a close acquaintance of the West Bengal Minister. Soon after, Chatterjee was taken into custody, along with his assistant Sukanta Acharya.

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Soon after the news broke out, opposition leader and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari posted photos of Arpita Mukherjee with Mamata Banerjee, the state Chief Minister, on his Twitter handle.

“Guilty by Association” – A legal phenomenon used to describe when an individual is guilty of committing a crime through knowing someone else. Just saying. Yeh toh bas trailer hai, picture abhi baki hai,” the BJP leader wrote. 

Trinamool Congress (TMC) spokesperson Kunal Ghosh responded to the opposition leader’s claims later, explaining that the party does not have a connection with the money recovered from Arpital Mukherjee’s home.

“An individual whose name have surfaced in connection with this are responsible for the explanation. We are trying to figure out that why the party’s name is being dragged into this. We will issue a statement at an appropriate time,” Ghosh tweeted.

ED, the federal agency in charge of the investigation, has revealed that Arpita is a close acquaintance of the arrested West Bengal Minister, Partha Chatterjee. Meanwhile, the photo posted by Suvendu Adhikary on Twitter that shows Arpita Mukherjee in a popular Durga Puja of southern Kolkata, has close ties with Chatterjee.

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“During the course of searches, the ED has recovered huge cash amounting to approximately Rs 20 crore from the residential premises of Arpita Mukherjee, who is a close associate of Shri Partha Chatterjee. The said amount is suspected to be the proceeds of crime of the SSC scam,” a statement released by the ED read.

Also Read: Who is Partha Chatterjee, West Bengal minister accused in teacher job scam?

The agency also revealed that they have recovered 20 mobile phones from Arpita Mukherjee’s home.

More information has come to light on Saturday morning regarding Arpita Mukherjee. According to several reports, Mukherjee was the face of several advertisements for Partha Chatterjee’s Durga Puja Committee and is said to have been part of a few Bengali films like Mama Bhagne and Partner.