New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Friday recovered Rs 20 crore in cash from the house of an associate of West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee. The ED raided Arpita Mukerjee's house in connection with an alleged teacher recruitment scam in West Bengal.
"The said amount is suspected to be proceeds of crime of the said SSC scam," the probe agency said in a statement.
The search teams are taking the assistance of bank officials for the counting of cash through counting machines. Photos of the house taken during the raid show Rs 2000 and Rs 500 notes that were recovered.
More than 20 mobile phones have also been recovered from the premises of Arpita Mukherjee, the purpose and use of which are being ascertained.
Apart from Chatterjee, the ED also conducted raids on Minister of State for Education Paresh C Adhikary, MLA Manik Bhattacharya and others.
Partha Chatterjee, who is presently the minister for industries and commerce, was the education minister when the alleged illegal appointments were made in government-run and aided schools by West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC).
The ruling Trinamool Congress described the raids as a "ploy" by the BJP government at the Centre to "harass" its political opponents.
"This raid by ED, a day after the spectacular Martyrs' Day rally that created ripples all over the country, is nothing but an attempt to harass and intimidate leaders of the TMC," West Bengal Transport Minister Firhad Hakim said.
The BJP, however, alleged that the Trinamool "aided large-scale anomalies" in the recruitment process of teachers at the primary, upper primary and secondary levels since coming to power.