Enforcement Directorate officials carried out a raid at a farmhouse in Santiniketan — around 150km from Kolkata — which is believed to be owned at the same time via sacked Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee and his shut aide Arpita Mukherjee, accused in the trainer recruitment scam.
Here are 10 updates on the case:
- ED officers confirmed that Parth and Arpita jointly bought the plot in 2012.
- Mutation was done in 2020 titled Arpita Mukherjee. The identity of the farmhouse is believed to be an abbreviation of ‘Apa’ Arpita and Partha.
- Some reviews claim that the farmhouse was sold in 2012 from a Kolkata-based Bengali family for Rs 20 lakh.
- According to people nearby, Parth and Arpita were often seen together at the farmhouse
- e. A caretaker looked after the farmhouse.
- ED officers raided the farmhouse for more than 07 hours.
- A senior official said, at one point during the search, the officers found some earth covered outside and looked to see if anything was hidden there.
- Arpita Mukhopadhyay’s family members used to go to the farmhouse.
- The farmhouse is one of the joint houses of Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee.
- ED officials revealed that they retain 50% stake in an agency called Apa Utility Services and at least four residences are registered under the title of this company.
Their ED custody has been prolonged until August 5 on Wednesday as the company is interrogating each of them. Both Partha and Arpita have denied knowledge of the crores of cash recovered from Arpita Mukherjee’s flats. While Arpita Mukherjee claimed the cash used to be saved in her flat without her knowledge, Partha Chatterjee stated he is a victim of a conspiracy.