'Guilty by Association': As Mamata Banerjee Minister Faces ED Heat, BJP Quips 'Picture Abhi Baaki Hai'

The arrest of Mamata Banerjee’s minister Partha Chatterjee in connection with an alleged teacher recruitment scam in West Bengal has given ammunition to the BJP to hit out at the chief minister and insinuate her involvement in the fraud.

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday seized Rs 20 crore in cash after raiding the house of Arpita Mukherjee, an aide of Partha Chatterjee. On Saturday, Chatterjee was arrested.

“Yeh toh bas trailer hai, picture abhi baaki hai (This is just a trailer, the movie is yet to come),” tweeted senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari as he described the raids.

Indirectly implicating the chief minister, he said: “Guilty by Association” – A legal phenomenon used to describe when an individual is guilty of committing a crime through knowing someone else. Just saying.”

His stand was supported by colleague Amit Malviya, who tweeted: “Not too long ago, Mamata Banerjee, from an open platform, praised Partha Chaterjee’s close aide, from whose residential premise, ED seized a small sum of 20 crore. Mamata knew of her and the “good work” she was doing. Make no mistake, Partha wasn’t scamming on his own accord…”

The 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.

Sources said the ED started the raids on Friday where it seized cash amounting to approximately Rs 21 crore at Arpita Mukherjee’s premises. Moreover, documents pertaining to around 10 properties, gold and diamond ornaments worth about Rs 50 lakh were also recovered.

The ED also raided the premises of Minister of State for Education Paresh C Adhikary, LA and ex-president of West Bengal Board of Primary Education Manik Bhattacharya, and others.

Sharing a photo of the recoveries, Adhikari alleged that the cash was found inside education ministry envelopes. “Sources claim that piles of cash were found inside WB Govt Education Ministry envelopes with National Emblem printed on them,” he tweeted.

Partha Chatterjee held the education portfolio when the alleged scam was reportedly pulled off. He was interrogated by the CBI twice, once on April 26 and then on May 18.

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