I don’t have any money, says Partha, cries conspiracy 

KOLKATA:  Sticking to conspiracy theory behind his arrest in connection with the recruitment scam in schools, former member of Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet and suspended Trinamool Congress heavyweight Partha Chatterjee on Sunday said time would say who hatched the plot.

When asked who hatched the conspiracy, Chatterjee, while being taken for medical check-up at ESI Hospital, Joka, said, “You will come to know with time.” Asked whether the cash `49.8 recovered from his close aide Arpita Mukherjee’s two apartments was his money, Chatterjee said, “I don’t have any money.” Four days ago, Chatterjee, while being taken for medical examination, had said he was a victim of conspiracy. 

During investigation, Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials found Rs 8 crore deposited in eight bank accounts. The central agency said the money is suspected to be the proceeds of the recruitment scam. ED is going through the balance sheets of at least four companies that have links with Arpita and have decided to summon some of the directors to find out if these served as shell companies to park proceeds of crime. The four companies whose financial statements are under ED’s scanner include Zamira Sunshines Limited, Echhay Entertainment Private Limited, Symbiosis Merchants Private Limited and Sentry Engineering Private Limited.

“Among the four companies, Zamira is the newest, incorporated on March 20, 2017. One of Arpita’s flats in Belgharia, from where cash Rs 27.9 crore was recovered, is the registered address for the company, which has interests in real estate activities,” said an ED official.  ED sources said among the four directors of Zamira is Debasish Debnath, who used to work as a peon. “Similarly, Kalyan Dhar, whose name features as one of the directors of the three other companies is Arpita’s brother-in-law and used to work as a driver,” said the official.

“We would like to know from Arpita about the exact roles of the directors of these companies that have links with her, their volume and extent of business and how the salaries of the staffs were funded,’’ the official added.

Over two sessions of interrogation on Sunday, Arpita was evasive about her income source and pleaded ignorance about most of the questions about the four companies and their statements of accounts, said ED sources.  

“The model and actor already washed off her hands when she was asked about the huge volume of cash recovered from her two apartments. She said Chatterjee’s men used to come and keep the money and she had no access to the rooms where the cash was stashed. Since we found her relative’s name in the list of directors of one of the companies, she cannot plead ignorance,” said another ED official.