Now IT Department finds ex-Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee purchased property in name of his son-in-law

Kolkata: More trouble now looms for former West Bengal Education Minister and Trinamool Congress Secretary General Partha Chatterjee, who is already in judicial custody for his alleged involvement in the multi-crore cash-for-school- job case in West Bengal.

The Income Tax Department has got some specific clues and evidence on how the former state minister purchased different properties in different pockets of West Bengal in the name of his son-in-law Kalyan Bhattacharya.

According to sources aware of the development, Bhattacharya, who is currently settled abroad, recently came to Kolkata and there he met Income Tax officials and confessed that the huge property registered in his name was actually funded by his father-in-law using his identity proofs like PAN card.

He had also handed over some documents to the Income Tax officials, who are now preparing to approach the court for permission to question Chatterjee at the correctional home in south Kolkata where he is housed now.

Meanwhile sources said that besides Kalyan Bhattacharya, the former minister also purchased huge property in the name of his daughter Sohini Bhattacharya, who is also settled abroad with her husband.

Although the Income Tax sleuths have got the statement of Kalyan Bhattacharya on this count, they are to get the statement from Sohini Bhattacharya.

Political observers feel that the fresh revelations are bound to make things more difficult for Partha Chatterjee in the coming days. "The development proves that even his closest family members are distancing themselves from him in this matter," a political observer said.