'Had no access to rooms where money was kept', says Arpita Mukherjee to ED

|HT|

As a total of ₹50 crore apart from many valuables have been recovered from Bengali actor, model Arpita Mukherjee, whom the Enforcement Directorate has identified as an aide of sacked minister Partha Chatterjee, Mukherjee said she was not aware of the amount kept in the rooms of her own flat. The ED recovered around ₹21 crore from her South Kolkata flat after which both she and Partha Chatterjee were arrested. On Wednesday, the agency raided her another flat in Belgharia from where ₹28 crore was recovered. An ED official said Arpita Mukherjee claimed that she was not allowed to enter those rooms. Partha Chatterjee's men used to come and keep that money. "Arpita Mukherjee has claimed that the money belongs to Partha Chatterjee and that he and his men used to come to her flats and hoard money. She claimed that she knew money was being stacked but was not aware of the amount as she had no access to the rooms," an ED official said. While Partha Chatterjee has so far been evasive in his replies to the ED, Arpita Mukherjee is said to have cooperated with the interrogators. She claimed Partha Chatterjee used her flats as 'mini-bank'. The heaps of ₹500 and ₹2,000 notes to count which the agency had to bring in special machines and trucks fell short to transport opened a can of worms which finally led to the sacking of minister Partha Chatterjee.

On Thursday, the agency conducted a raid at another apartment which is also linked to Arpita Mukherjee. It is not yet known whether the officials recovered anything from this flat. "This (Chinar Park) apartment belonged to Arpita Mukherjee and we suspect that like her other flats, cash can be stacked here as well. We are talking to the neighbours and trying to find out what kind of activities have been carried out here," an ED official said. The details of this flat was also obtained from Mukherjee herself. The Trinamool on Thursday axed Partha Chatterjee as a minister and suspended him from the party. "He has been suspended till the investigation is underway. He can come back if proven not guilty. CM took the decision and the (Partha Chatterjee) minister was removed. The probe into the matter is underway. If anyone commits something wrong then TMC won't spare him," Abhishek Banerjee said.

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