Partha Chatterjee calls himself 'victim of conspiracy' after seizure of huge amount of money, gold

Partha Chatterjee, a former West Bengal minister, said on Friday that he was the "victim of a plot" in response to criticism about the seizure of sizable sums of money from his friend Arpita Mukherjee's apartments. Five days after being detained by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the alleged teacher recruitment scam in the state, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee removed Chatterjee from all party positions in the Trinamool Congress and removed him from his position as a minister on Thursday.

"I'm a victim of a conspiracy," the tainted leader told reporters while being taken to a hospital for a medical checkup. In the state administration led by Mamata Banerjee, Chatterjee held the position of Industry Minister. On July 23, the federal anti-money laundering agency made an arrest while looking into the SSC scam's financial trail.

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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.

On July 23, the ED raided Mukherjee's apartment and recovered more than Rs 21 crore in cash in addition to crores of rupees' worth of gold jewellery. 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. The alleged unlawful recruitments are said to have taken place while the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader was the education minister. Mukherjee and Chatterjee have both been detained by the ED until August 3.

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