This Article is From Jul 29, 2022

Hunt For 4 Cash-Filled Cars Of Sacked Bengal Minister's Aide: Sources

The cars -- an Audi A4, a Honda City, a Honda CRV, and a Mercedes Benz -- are loaded with cash, sources in the agency said.

Just one white-coloured Mercedes car was seized by the ED during Ms Mukherjee's arrest, sources said.

New Delhi:

The Enforcement Directorate is searching for four cars owned by Arpita Mukherjee, an actor linked to sacked Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee, searches at whose various flats in Kolkata have yielded a record Rs 50 crore in cash - a record for the probe agency. The cars -- an Audi A4, a Honda City, a Honda CRV, and a Mercedes Benz -- are loaded with cash, sources in the agency said. During the raids, the ED also found a diamond ring at one of Ms Mukherjee's flats with "P" written on it, sources said.

Just one white-coloured Mercedes car was seized by the ED during Ms Mukherjee's arrest, sources said.

The probe agency is scanning CCTV footage and conducting multiple raids to locate the vehicles.

Arpita Mukherjee, a 30-year-old model, actor and Instagrammer, owns several flats for which sale deeds have been found by the ED. The agency has arrested Ms Mukherjee in connection with a school jobs scam. She is a close aide of Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjee.

According to ED officials, Ms Mukherjee owns two flats in Clubtown Heights, in Belgharia area of Kolkata. In the raid conducted at one of these flats on Thursday morning, ED seized nearly Rs 30 crore in cash and five kilograms of gold ornaments. No recovery was made from the second flat, said the officials of the agency.

On Friday, the probe agency officials had recovered Rs 21 crore in cash, gold bars worth Rs 2 crore and a huge amount of foreign exchange from another flat owned by Ms Mukherjee in the Diamond City condo in Kolkata's Tollygunge.

Partha Chatterjee, once close to Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee but now a colossal embarrassment for her, was sacked as a minister and removed from all posts in the Trinamool Congress as evidence of corruption stacked up against him. The former state Education Minister is accused of taking bribes for the recruitment of teachers and staff in state-run schools.    

Arpita Mukherjee was active in the Bengali and Odia film industries between 2008 and 2014. She comes from a middle-class family in Belghoria in the northern suburbs of Kolkata and was into modelling since her college days.

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