Following the arrest of party leader and West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee, Trinamool Congress (TMC) has demanded a time-bound investigation in the Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe. The party has also confirmed that it will not look to politically impede the investigation if any of its leaders have acted in their own interest.

ED officials had carried out a series of raids on Friday, July 22 in West Bengal, connected to the investigation of the SSC scam. They had also unearthed INR 21 Crore from the home of Arpita Mukherjee, a close aide of Partha Chatterjee — following which both were arrested

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Chatterjee was in charge of the education ministry in the past, however, currently holds the four different ministries in the state government cabinet — Industries, IT & Electronics, Parliamentary Affairs and Public Enterprises.

Following his arrest on Saturday, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh had said that the party does not have any connection with the money or Arpita Mukerjee, who had been arrested by the ED.

“The party demands time-bound investigation in the case,” Ghosh said. He also mentioned that several investigations by central agencies against current political leaders of West Bengal have been going on for years.

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The Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI), who were given the charge of investigating the Saradha chit fund and Narada tape case, is yet to conclude its probe into any of the cases. The CBI and ED are also investigating several political figures in the state, including Abhishek Banerjee, nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in a coal smuggling, cow-cattle smuggling and other cases.

“Law will take its own course; the Trinamool Congress will not interfere, however big a leader gets involved in it,” Ghosh quipped.

The TMC has not yet cleared whether Chatterjee will be evicted from his ministership in the coming days, for which the CM will need to notify and ask for the permission of the state Governor, La Ganesan.