"Victim Of Conspiracy," Says Sacked Bengal Minister After Rs 50-Crore Haul

Former Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee, caught in a sensational corruption case, today said that he is a victim of a conspiracy. Mr Chaterjee was sacked from all party positions and also removed from his cabinet position after he was arrested following raids that yielded a record Rs 50 crore in cash along with other valuables. 

The 69-year-old is under the custody of the Enforcement Directorate and was today taken to a hospital for a medical check.

On being questioned by reports, he said that he is a "victim of a conspiracy". 

Rs 29 crore in unaccounted-for cash - besides five kilograms of gold jewellery - was allegedly found at flats owned by his aide, actor-Instagrammer Arpita Mukherjee, in Kolkata, during a raid by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The duo were arrested by the ED on July 23 after Rs 21-crore cash was seized from her house in Kolkata's Tollygunge.

Mr Chatterjee's 30-year-old aide was earlier today seen wailing, protesting, and refusing to get out of a car before she was forcibly taken inside a hospital in Kolkata today for a court-mandated checkup. 

Ms Mukherjee and the now suspended Trinamool Congress leader - arrested on July 23 in a job scam in the state education department - are supposed to undergo checkups every 48 hours as per court orders.

Partha Chatterjee, who was in a wheelchair, was taken in before Ms Mukherjee.

The CBI, as directed by Calcutta High Court, is probing the alleged irregularities committed in the recruitment of Group C and D staff as well as teachers in government-sponsored and aided schools on the recommendations of the West Bengal School Service Commission.

The ED is looking into the money trail involved in the scam.