Ex-Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee's Aide Arpita Mukherjee Moves Court To Unfreeze Bank Accounts

(MENAFN- IANS) Kolkata, Dec 8 (IANS) Former West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee's close aide Arpita Mukherjee on Monday filed an application in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court, requesting the Enforcement Directorate, probing the school service commission recruitment corruption case, to open her three bank accounts.

Mukherjee made the application, claiming she is going through a tough time financially and therefore needs to open her bank accounts. Mukherjee, who was arrested by ED in 2022 for her alleged involvement in the recruitment case, is currently out on bail.

During the hearing of the case on Monday, Arpita's lawyer told the ED court that she is having problems in her life due to the ED freezing three of her important accounts in a state-owned bank. She is practically starving.

Arpita's lawyer claimed that her client opened three accounts in a state-owned bank in 2004, where her income from her career in acting and modelling is kept.

At that time, this case did not exist. Therefore, there is no reason to close her accounts, the lawyer argued.

The ED did not find any link between those accounts and corruption. Despite this, the actress is facing problems due to the freezing of the accounts, the lawyer told the court. Today, after hearing the argument of Arpita's lawyer, the court ordered her to make a fresh application.

It may be recalled that the former state education minister was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in July, 2022 for his alleged involvement in the multi-crore SSC teacher recruitment scam. On the day of Chatterjee's arrest in 2022, the ED had unearthed Rs 20 crore in cash from the house of his close associate Arpita Mukherjee who was also arrested in the same case. Mukherjee was granted bail in 2024.

In September this year, the Calcutta High Court granted bail to Partha Chatterjee.

Despite the bail order, Chatterjee could not be released immediately due to a Supreme Court directive which said that Chatterjee be released only after the trial court completes the examination of material witnesses within two months. He was finally released from judicial custody on November 11.

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