Bengal SSC Recruitment Scam: ED attaches over Rs 46 crore assets of Partha Chatterjee, aide

Kolkata, Sep 18: In a fresh development, the Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth Rs 46.22 crore belonging to former minister Partha Chatterjee and his alleged associate Arpita Mukherjee as part of a money laundering probe in the SSC Recruitment Scam.

The attached properties include 40 immovable assets such as a farmhouse, flats and "prime land" located in Kolkata worth a total Rs 40.33 crore, apart from Rs 7.89 crore worth deposits kept in 35 bank accounts, the federal agency said in a statement.

"The attached properties are found to be beneficially owned by Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee," it said. According to the agency, several of the attached properties were registered in the name of shell companies and persons acting as proxies for Chatterjee. The former minister in the TMC-led government in West Bengal and his "close associate" were arrested by the ED in July.

The agency had seized Rs 49.80 crore cash, gold and other jewellery worth more than Rs 55 crore after it conducted raids in this case in Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal.

Partha Chatterjee held the portfolios of Higher Education, School Education and Parliamentary Affairs in the Mamata Banerjee-led Cabinet.