Bengal SSC scam: 8 Bank accounts linked to Arpita Mukherjee frozen

Kolkata, July 30: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) froze eight bank accounts of suspected shell companies with links to Arpita Mukherjee, a day after Rs 20 crore in cash was recovered from her Kolkata residence.

Bank accounts belonging to several "shell companies" of Mukherjee are also under ED scanner.

The ED sleuth said the agency will continue grilling Mukherjee to know whether she has any more bank accounts.

Chatterjee's bank accounts are also being checked. Interrogation of both Mukherjee and Chatterjee is underway since morning.

Both Chatterjee, who has been stripped of his ministerial and party duties, and Mukherjee, from whose two flats ED has seized Rs 50 crore in cash besides jewellery and foreign currency, will be in the custody of the central agency till August 3.

The duo was arrested on July 23 for their alleged involvement in the school jobs scam, where genuine candidates were allegedly sidestepped with names that did not appear on the merit list. ED is probing the money laundering aspect of the scam.

When taken to ESI Hospital in Joka area in south Kolkata on Friday, Chatterjee alleged he was a "victim of conspiracy", but TMC has asserted that he was "solely responsible for his fate".