Woman throws shoes at sacked TMC minister Partha Chatterjee

Kolkata, Aug 02: A woman hurled a shoe at former West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee while being taken to the ED Enforcement Directorate from the ECI Hospital on Tuesday.

The woman, hailing from Amtala area, made an attempt to throw her shoes at the suspended Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjee when he was was being escorted out of a hospital by the ED officials.

However, the footwear flung by the woman missed Chatterjee.

The middle-aged woman, Shubra Ghorui, is said to have harboured anger against Chatterjee after the seizure of around Rs 50 crore in cash, along with jewellery, by the Enforcement Directorate from two apartments of Arpita Mukherjee, a close associate of the suspended TMC leader.

"I have come here to hit (Partha) Chatterjee with my shoes. I cannot think that he has built apartment after apartment, and accumulated so much cash when people are roaming on the roads without any job. After cheating people he is travelling in AC cars. He must be dragged with a rope...I will walk back home barefoot," PTI quoted her as saying.

"It is not only my anger but that of lakhs and lakhs of people of West Bengal," Ghorui told reporters. The veteran leader, who has been relieved of his ministerial responsibilities, was then whisked away in a vehicle from the hospital premises by ED security personnel.

"I would have been very happy if the shoes had hit him. I will not take the shoes back," the woman stated. Both Chatterjee and Mukherjee were arrested by the ED on July 23 in connection with its probe into the multi-crore teacher recruitment scam. The arrested former TMC leader was on Tuesday taken by the ED officials to the ESI Hospital in Joka for a medical check-up and police had put up tight security arrangements inside the premises.

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.