Punish if guilty, says Mamata on minister Partha Chatterjee's arrest
"If anyone is found guilty, he or she must be punished. But I condemn the malicious campaign against me," Mamata said at an event after the arrest of minister Partha Chatterjee. The comments come hours after media reports emerged that Chatterjee reached out to the Chief Minister thrice after he was arrested, but she did not answer the calls.
FollowWest Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday distanced herself from the scam-accused minister Partha Chatterjee and said that she does not support corruption or any wrongdoing.
"If anyone is found guilty, he or she must be punished. But I condemn the malicious campaign against me," Mamata said at an event after the arrest of minister Partha Chatterjee.
"BJP is wrong if it thinks it can break my party using agencies," she added.
The comments come hours after media reports emerged that Chatterjee reached out to the Chief Minister thrice after he was arrested, but she did not answer the calls.
Also Read: Mamata Banerjee ignored 3 calls made by Partha Chatterjee after his arrest?
Chatterjee, who was arrested in connection with the teacher recruitment scam that took place at West Bengal government-run and-aided schools when he was education minister, is currently in Enforcement Directorate's custody. Doctors at AIIMS-Bhubaneswar, where Chatterjee was flown for a medical checkup, said that he suffers from chronic diseases but does not need immediate hospitalization.
'Aide' operated 12 shell companies?
Meanwhile, a senior agency official informed that the initial probe had revealed that Arpita Mukherjee, a "close aide" of Chatterjee, had been operating at least 12 shell companies, primarily for financial manoeuvres.
The agency has reportedly recovered documents "supporting the existence of such companies" have been recovered from Mukherjee's Joka flat during Saturday's search operations. Mukherjee has acted in several Oriya and Bengali movies.
The involvement of a few lesser-known actors and certain production house operators in Odisha and Tamil Nadu is also suspected, and they may be questioned shortly.
A city court on Sunday remanded Mukherjee to one-day ED custody. She was arrested following marathon questioning at her residence by agency personnel who recovered crores of rupees in cash and other valuables from there.
Also Read: Partha Chatterjee: From trusted lieutenant of Mamata Banerjee to 'scam-tainted' minister
