Arrested Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee's official car deposited in Assembly

Kolkata, July 26: Amid the growing opposition demands for the removal of arrested West Bengal Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee from the cabinet, his official car, used by him for over 15 years, was on Tuesday deposited in the state Assembly.

Chatterjee, also secretary general of the ruling Trinamool Congress, was allotted the car and a driver by the Assembly as the Leader of the Opposition in 2006.

"After the TMC came to power in 2011 and he became a minister, he continued to use the car and the driver until the other day. His driver was verbally asked to return the car to the Assembly," a senior assembly official told PTI.

Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee also confirmed the development but asserted that it does not "imply anything".

"The car was taken from the pool of cars owned by the Assembly. The driver is also an employee of the Assembly. As Partha Chatterjee is in custody and is not using it, his driver has deposited it in the Assembly. I think the driver did it on his own, but still, I will check tomorrow," he said.

Chatterjee was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on July 23 in connection with its investigation into the alleged teacher recruitment irregularities at government-sponsored and -aided schools.
He was the education minister when the alleged school jobs scam took place.

A woman, claimed to be Chatterjee's close aide, was also arrested by the central agency after crores of rupees in cash were allegedly recovered from her residence.