Bengal SSC scam: Arrested minister Partha Chatterjee's aide Arpita Mukherjee has an Ollywood link

BHUBANESWAR: The ED raids in connection with the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) and West Bengal Primary Education Board has an Odisha link.

Actress Arpita Mukherjee -- a close associate of former West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee -- from whose house Rs 20 crore was seized on Friday, has done at least six Odia films within a period of 5 years alongside popular actors before she permanently shifted to Tollywood.

Bengali film and TV actress Arpita debuted in the Odia film industry in the year 2008 with the film 'Bande Utkala Janani'. In the film directed by Suvendu Swain who introduced her to Odia cinema, Arpita was cast as the female lead opposite Siddhanta Mohapatra and Sabyasachi Mishra.

While the film did commercially well at the box office, Arpita bagged another lead role in 'Prem Rogi' in 2009. The film was by Ashok Pati. The following year, she did the second female lead role in Debu Patnaik's 'Tora Mora Jodi Sundara', again opposite Sabyasachi. She also did 'Kemiti A Bandhana' which also starred Chandrachur Singh, Sabyasachi and Anu Chaudhury in 2011 and year before that, Arpita starred in  'Mu Kana Ete Kharap' opposite Anubhav Mohanty, who was then the leading male actor in the industry. Her last Odia film was 'Raju Awara'
opposite Akash Dasnayak in 2012.

Along with Odia films, she continued acting in Bengali cinema but after 2011, she shifted to Tollywood as offers from Ollywood dwindled.