Money parked at my residence in my absence: Arpita Mukherjee

Kolkata: Arpita Mukherjee, one of the prime accused in the multi-crore West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment irregularities scam, on Tuesday has claimed that the massive amounts of cash recovered from her two residences were parked there in her absence and without her knowledge.

"The money recovered was parked in the flats in my absence and without my knowledge," Mukherjee told the media while she was brought to the ESI Hospital at Joka in the southern outskirts of Kolkata for a routine check-up by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Former Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee, also an accused, was brought to the hospital also on Tuesday morning for the same purpose.

On July 20, Mukherjee informed the ED sleuths that her residence at Belgharia in the northern outskirts of Kolkata had multiple duplicate keys and hence accessed by many others in her absence.

She also claimed that she did not have the permission to open the cupboards where the cash were stocked and even frequented the rooms too often, despite these flats being officially in her name.

Meanwhile, political mud-slinging has started over Mukherjee's allegations.

West Bengal BJP spokesman, Shamik Bhattacharya, said that from the pattern of crime it is clear that it was not possible for Mukherjee to organise a financial embezzlement of such magnitude.

"Whatever Arpita's role is in the scam is that of just a pawn. Similarly, Partha Chatterjee was not the only one involved in the scam," he said.

Similarly, CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said: "Since the beginning we had been saying that the flats owned by Arpita Mukherjee were used as parking slots for the crime proceeds, where not just Partha Chatterjee but many others in the state government and the ruling party are involved. Now ED should continue with the same investigative aggression which it is displaying now."

Trinamool Congress spokesman, Kunal Ghosh said that after remaining silent for so many days since the arrest on July 23, such comments are baseless.

"The law will take its own course," he said.