Calcutta HC to hear ED plea today for minister Partha Chatterjee’s custody – Hindustan Times

Kolkata News

A day after arresting West Bengal industries minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) secretary general Partha Chatterjee in the school teacher recruitment scam, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday filed a petition before the Calcutta high court seeking his custody.

The case is listed for special hearing at 4pm on Sunday by the single bench of justice Bibek Chaudhuri, said court documents seen by HT.

Chatterjee was arrested hours after ED seized 21.90 crore in Indian currency, jewellery valued at around 70 lakh and foreign currency worth around 54 lakh from the apartment of Arpita Mukherjee, a model and actor who ED described in its petition as a close aide of Chatterjee.

Mukherjee, who was arrested on Saturday evening, was also produced before the chief metropolitan magistrate at Bankshall court in Kolkata around 2.30pm on Sunday after a mandatory medical examination at the ESI Hospital in Joka.

Also Read | Who is Arpita Mukherjee from whose flat ED seized 21 cr, gold worth 50 lakh?

ED officials said they will pray for her custody so that she can be questioned on the source of the cash. “So far she has not cooperated with the agency,” an ED official said on condition of anonymity.

“I do not belong to any political party. I have faith in the judiciary. I hope law will take its own course,” Mukherjee told the media when she was being taken to court.

The seizure was made from an apartment at a posh condominium at Tollygunge in south Kolkata. Legal deeds relating to ownership of the apartment was found from Chatterjee’s residence at Naktala in south Kolkata when he was interrogated for more than 12 hours on Friday.

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The minister was arrested in the early hours on Saturday after the raid at Mukherjee’s apartment yielded the cash. ED officials said she did not disclose its source even as investigation indicated that she owns several properties and businesses.

When Partha Chatterjee was produced before the Bankshall court in Kolkata on Saturday, he was allowed to be admitted at the state-run SSKM hospital as his lawyers claimed that he was unwell. Chatterjee was shifted from the hospital’s intensive care unit to the cardiology ward on Sunday morning.

ED officials said they plan to question Chatterjee and Mukherjee simultaneously if the two courts remand them in its custody. ED said in its petition before the Calcutta high court that being an influential person, Chatterjee may interfere with the investigation if he is allowed to stay at SSKM Hospital. ED also questioned the claim that he was unwell.

Making no attempt to defend Chatterjee, the TMC on Saturday said it has faith in the judicial system.

“The party will take action against Partha Chatterjee if the judiciary finds him guilty,” said TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh.

Three senior ministers, Firhad Hakim, Chandrima Bhattacharya and Aroop Biswas were also present at the press conference.

“The party has no connection with the woman whose apartment was raided. She is not a party member,” said Ghosh even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) started a state-wide agitation and circulated an old video purportedly showing chief minister Mamata Banerjee at a public event alongside Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee.

The video was claimed to have been shot in 2019 during the inauguration of the Durga puja held by Naktala Udayan Sangha of which Chatterjee is the principal patron.

Neither Ghosh nor the ministers questioned the authenticity of the video but said a lot of people gather at such events.

Mukherjee, who played small roles in Bengali, Odiya and some Tamil movies, was made the model for the puja’s theme.

The BJP’s agitations started again on Sunday morning in Kolkata and the districts.

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Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/kolkata-news/calcutta-hc-to-hear-ed-plea-today-for-minister-partha-chatterjee-s-custody-101658658462559.html