Partha Chatterjee is an Indian politician who formerly held the positions of West Bengal’s Education Minister and Minister of Commerce and Industries. He spoke on behalf of Trinamool Congress. Additionally, he held the position of Secretary General of the All India Trinamool Congress in politics. Partha Chatterjee oversaw Parliamentary Affairs, Public Enterprises, IT and Electronics, Industries, Commerce and Enterprises, and Industrial Reconstruction.
During his college years, he entered politics as a leader of the Congress Chatra Parishad (1960s). He then rose to become the general secretary of the college union at Ashutosh College after being inspired by Subrata Mukherjee and Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi. He was one of the very few political figures in Bengal who continued his schooling while entering politics. After earning his master’s degree from Calcutta University, he went on to complete his MBA at the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management.
As soon as Mamata Banerjee founded the Trinamool Congress in 1998, he got back into politics. He hails from South Kolkata, and in 2001, he ran for the first time in the Assembly, winning the Behala Paschim seat. Since then, the five-time MLA has never lost his seat.
Partha Chatterjee, a senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) politician and West Bengal minister, is now being held by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on suspicion of taking part in the state’s school jobs Fraud. Arpita Mukherjee is close to Chatterjee. After the Enforcement Directorate investigated one of Arpita Mukherjee’s homes, they allegedly discovered wads of cash inside totalling more than Rs. 21 crores, which helped make her famous.
Partha Chatterjee Association with Arpita Mukherjee
Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee have been regularly spotted going to many public and social events, such as the Durga Puja. She even appeared on the puja’s music record cover in 2021, and she took part in Partha Chatterjee’s campaign for the Bengal assembly elections that year.
Partha Mukherjee’s Bengal SSC Scam
The alleged Partha Chatterjee scam initially came to light in 2014, when the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) stated that teachers will be appointed at state-run schools in West Bengal using the State Level Selection Test (SLST) or WBSSC exam. When Partha Chatterjee was the Minister-in-Charge of the West Bengal Department of Higher Education and School Education in 2016, the Bengal SSC Scam occurred.
According to the petitioners in the WBSSC Scam, several test takers with lesser marks were put higher on the merit list. There have also been a number of allegations regarding applicants who weren’t even on the merit list receiving appointment letters in the Teacher Recruitment Scam. However, a number of complaints indicating anomalies in the recruiting process in the School Jobs Fraud were made to the Calcutta High Court.
Partha Chatterjee was the education minister between 2014-21 when the School Jobs fraud allegedly took place. According to allegations, Chatterjee took part in a fraud that entailed illegal recruiting procedures, placing applicants with lower test scores higher on the merit list, and accepting cash in return for placing applicants in jobs.
On July 23, 2022, Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee were detained in connection with a WBSSC scam involving the West Bengal Primary Education Board and the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC). The residence of Chatterjee, Paresh Adhikari, and several other persons was raided by the Enforcement Directorate. During the ED raid on Arpita Mukherjee’s property, a sizable sum of cash, believed to be worth Rs 21 Crore, was found.
The aforementioned quantity was seen as coming from the Bengal SSC Scam’s profits. According to the investigating agency, a total of more than 20 mobile phones were discovered for this reason during Arpita Mukherjee’s ED raid at home.
At the many locations where the scammers were staying, a number of other incriminating documents, records, information about dubious enterprises, technical equipment, foreign currency, and gold have also been discovered. Several WBSSC test papers, student enrollment cards, and other property-related documentation were reportedly found by the investigating agency during the ED raid in Partha Chatterjee’s house as well as Mukherjee’s apartment.
Arpita Mukherjee and Partha Chatterjee were escorted to the hospital on Friday for a medical checkup in accordance with the Calcultta High Court’s directives. They both put on a dramatic performance while refusing to exit the car. They were required to go to the hospital for their medical evaluation by the authorities. The BJP and TMC also engaged in verbal combat as a result of this occurrence.
As they close in on the former minister’s aide, the investigators are presently Arpita’s four pricey cars—a Mercedes Benz, an Audi A4, a Honda City, and a Honda CRV—have all disappeared. The ED raid has already seized a substantial cash haul of almost Rs 50 crore as well as gold bars valued more than Rs 5 crore.