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The unaccounted money was found five days after the agency seized more than Rs 21 crore in cash, besides jewellery and foreign exchange from another flat of Mukherjee, who was also arrested on July 23.
The demand for dismissal of Chatterjee from the cabinet grew louder from within the ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition parties.
The federal anti-money laundering agency, probing the money trail of the teacher recruitment scam, also grilled TMC MLA Manik Bhattacharya, a former president of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education.
During questioning, she informed the ED about those properties. ED sleuths had to break open a door to get into two flats in Belgharia’s Rathtala locality as the keys to open them could not be spotted, an official said.
“We have found a good amount of money from one of the flats in a housing complex. We have brought three note counting machines to know the exact amount,” an official told .
According to highly-placed sources, the ED has recovered nearly Rs 28 crore and 5 kg gold till 4:30 AM in the night.
Meanwhile, fuelling speculations about Partha Chatterjee’s future as a cabinet minister, Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh Wednesday hope the party would take note of the public perception as the recovery of cash from his aide’s home has brought “disgrace” to party and “shame to all of us”.
His comments come in the backdrop of the recovery of huge cash from one of the flats linked to Arpita Mukherjee, considered a close associate of arrested West Bengal Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee, late this evening.
The unaccounted money was found five days after the agency seized more than Rs 21 crore in cash, besides jewellery and foreign exchange, from another flat of Mukherjee, who was also arrested on July 23.
“This development is a matter of great concern. Such incidents have brought disgrace to the party and shame to all of us. He (Partha Chatterjee) is saying why he would quit as minister. Why is he not saying in the public domain that he is innocent? What is stopping him from doing that?”
“I hope the party would take note of the public perception and take appropriate steps,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Ghosh had said it has to be seen how Chatterjee sheds the tag of being “influential” without quitting as a minister of several departments.
Chatterjee, whom the Enforcement Directorate arrested in connection with a school jobs scam, earlier in the day countered repeated queries by the media on whether he would resign by retorting why he should do so.
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