SSC scam: Arpita Mukherjee's mother distances from Partha; cries 'daughter not guilty'

In spite of over Rs 50 crore worth of cash recovered in two hauls from the model-actor's residence, Arpita Mukherjee's mother cried 'not guilty' in the SSC recruitment scam on Saturday. Speaking to Republic, Mukherjee's mother said that her daughter had done nothing to accumulate the cash that had been recovered from two of her Kolkata-based apartments and claimed that she has 'fallen prey to a conspiracy, of which she had no idea of'.

'My daughter has fallen prey', says Arpita Mukherjee's mother

Starting from July 27 till the early morning of July 28, ED sleuths recovered cash worth Rs 27.90 crore and 6 kg of gold from Mukherjee's residence at Belgharia in the northern outskirts of Kolkata. Before this, starting from July 22 till the early morning of July 23, the agency recovered 20 crore from Mukherjee`s Diamond City residence at Tollygunge in South Kolkata in Indian and foreign currencies, 2 Kg gold ornaments.

The residence of Mukherjee, an aide of sacked West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee, was one of the 13 locations raided by the agency in connection to the illegal appointment of non-teaching staff (Group C & D), teaching staff [Assistant teachers (Class IX-XII) and teachers in Primary school. 

Arpita Mukherjee's mother also refuted claims that the model-actor was an aide of the sacked Minister, as was being claimed. "I have never met Partha Chatterjee. He came here only once. There was some event here, and to attend that, he had come," she said. 

Arpita Mukherjee discloses names of people related to the recruitment scam 

Concluding that the documents, as well as stashes of cash, recovered make the involvement of Chatterjee and Mukherjee in the scam clear, both were arrested on July 23. Post the arrest, while Chatterjee was remanded to 2-day ED custody, Mukherjee was sent to 1-day custody. On the day of the expiry of the custody, i.e., on July 25, the court extended it till August 3. 

Republic learnt that in the questioning thereafter, Mukherjee alleged that the 'only person' who had access to her flats, from which the cash has been recovered, was Chatterjee. The model-actor even claimed that none, including herself, was allowed access to the flat, without the sacked Minister's permission. 

Also, sources told the channel that Mukherjee apart from Chatterjee has disclosed the names of 14 people involved in the scam. On the orders of the Calcutta High Court, the investigation into the recruitment scam began. The ED is investigating the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).