4 luxury cars missing from Arpita Mukherjee's home, ED claims it had huge cash

Four luxury automobiles belonging to Arpita Mukherjee, the close aide of arrested West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee have gone missing from one of her residences since her arrest in the alleged teacher recruitment scam, according to ED sources on Friday.  After the Enforcement Directorate (ED) recovered gold jewellery worth millions of rupees as well as more than Rs 21 crore in cash from Mukherjee's apartment, she was arrested on July 23. Late on Wednesday night, the investigation agency also found undeclared cash worth Rs. 27.9 crore, gold jewellery, and foreign currency in another Mukherjee-related property.

ED sources claimed that the Audi A4, Honda City, Honda CRV, and Mercedes Benz that were parked at her apartment in the Diamond City South complex may have had large sums of money in them. They said that the automobiles vanished shortly after the night she was detained. During Mukherjee's arrest, the ED only took one white Mercedes, according to sources. In order to find the cars, the investigation agency is searching through CCTV video and conducting many raids.

Also Read | Over Rs 28 crore, 5kg gold seized from 2nd home of West Bengal minister's aide

Five days after Chatterjee was arrested in connection with the state's alleged SSC fraud, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday removed him from his position as a minister and from all Trinamool Congress party positions.

The anti-money laundering agency, which is looking into the financial trail of the teacher recruitment scandal, detained Chatterjee on July 23 when he was serving as the state government's industry minister under Mamata Banerjee. The investigation into the suspected irregularities in the recruitment of teachers and non-teaching personnel in the state-run schools through the School Service Commission led to the arrest one day after the ED conducted extensive searches at the homes of Chatterjee, Mukherjee, and other individuals.

Also Read | Who is Arpita Mukherjee, the actor who became WB minister Partha Chatterjee's aide