NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: The Enforcement Directorate on Friday said it has seized Rs 20 crore cash after raiding the premises of a "close associate" of West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee in connection with the alleged teacher recruitment scam in the state.
The probe agency launched coordinated searches at the premises of Chatterjee, the state industries and commerce minister, his aide Arpita Mukherjee, Minister of State for Education Paresh C Adhikary, MLA and ex-president of West Bengal Board of Primary Education Manik Bhattacharya and a number of other persons.
"During the searches, the ED recovered cash amounting to approximately Rs 20 crore from the residential premises of Arpita Mukherjee, who is a close associate of Partha Chatterjee.
"The said amount is suspected to be proceeds of crime of the said SSC (School Service Commission) scam," the federal agency alleged in a statement.
It said the search team is taking the assistance of bank officials to count the seized cash using machines.
"More than 20 mobile phones have also been seized from the premises of Arpita Mukherjee, the purpose and use of which is being ascertained," the ED said.
The others who were raided include P K Bandopadhyay, OSD to Partha Chatterjee when he was the state education minister earlier, his then personal secretary Sukanta Acharjee, Chandan Mondal alias Ranjan, a "tout" who allegedly used to take money on the promise of giving school teacher jobs, Kalyanmay Bhattacharya, son-in-law of Partha Bhattacharya; Krishna C Adhikary, and Dr S P Sinha, advisor of the West Bengal Central School Service Commission - convenor of the 5-member committee.
Kalyanmoy Ganguly, the ex-president of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education; Saumitra Sarkar, ex-president of the West Bengal Central School Service Commission; and Alok Kumar Sarkar, the deputy director of the School Education Department were also raided.
The ED said, "A number of incriminating documents, records, details of dubious companies, electronic devices, foreign currency and gold have been recovered from the premises of persons linked to the scam."
The ED's money laundering case stems from an FIR by the CBI, which was first directed by the Calcutta High Court to investigate the alleged scam in the recruitment of Group 'C' and 'D' staff, assistant teachers of classes 11 and 11 and primary teachers.
At least seven to eight ED personnel arrived at Partha Chatterjee's Naktala residence in south Kolkata around 8:30 am and carried out searches till 11 am with CRPF personnel keeping guard outside, a source said.
Another team of the probe agency's officials visited Paresh Adhikari's home at Mekhliganj in the Coochbehar district and spoke to his family members, sources said.
Chatterjee held the education portfolio when the alleged scam was reportedly pulled off.
He was interrogated by the CBI twice, once on April 26 and then on May 18.
Adhikari, the minister of state for education, had also been grilled by the CBI with his daughter losing her job as a school teacher.
He told reporters he could not get in touch with his family over the phone.
"They did not intimate us about the visit to our house today. I am in Kolkata in connection with the Trinamool Congress' July 21 Martyrs' Day rally. Had I been around, I would have treated them to muri (puffed rice)," Adhikari said.
The TMC described the concerted raids by the ED as a "ploy" by the BJP government at the Centre to "harass" its political opponents.
"This raid by ED, a day after the spectacular Martyrs' Day rally that created ripples all over the country, is nothing but an attempt to harass and intimidate leaders of the TMC. The CBI has already interrogated them (ministers) as part of a court directive and they are cooperating. Now, the ED is being invoked only to discredit them. The money laundering issue is being invented by the BJP," West Bengal Transport Minister Firhad Hakim said.
The BJP, however, alleged that the TMC "aided large-scale anomalies" in the recruitment process of teachers at the primary, upper primary and secondary levels since coming to power.
"TMC leaders and people close to them duped lakhs of qualified youths and handed over their jobs to ineligible ones. The CBI and ED are progressing on the right path. More skeletons will tumble out of the cupboard. The BJP has no role to play in the issue," the saffron party's national vice-president Dilip Ghosh said.