After Arpita Mukherjee’s confession to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials regarding the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) scam, chief minister Mamata Banerjee sacked minister Partha Chatterjee from his position and relieved him of all his duties.
The decision was taken after a meeting of Trinamool Congress leaders who demanded the sacking of the secretary-general.
In an official statement, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said, “I have removed Partha Chatterjee as a minister. My party takes strict action. There are many plannings behind it but I don’t want to go into details.”
Earlier, many TMC leaders including the party’s state general secretary Kunal Ghosh had demanded the expulsion of Chatterjee.
“He (Partha Chatterjee) is saying why he would quit as minister. Why is he not saying in the public domain that he is innocent and has no relation with Arpita Mukherjee? What is stopping him from doing that? I have full faith in Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee, and I think they will take the appropriate decision,” Ghosh said.
The comment came amid the opposition BJP and CPI(M)’s attack on the TMC for not taking any action against Chatterjee even as huge amounts of cash were recovered from properties linked to him.
Chatterjee’s close aid, Arpita Mukherjee, from whose apartment an exhaustive amount of money and gold jewelry was found during a raid by the Enforcement Directorate, had confessed to the officials that her house was used as a store room to stack up illegal money.
West Bengal SSC Exam Scam
In 2014, when Chatterjee was the state education minister, the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) issued a notification issued notification for government teachers’ posts. As the recruitment process began in 2016, there were many petitions filed in the Calcutta high court alleging irregularities in the process.
The petitioners alleged that those who had received fewer marks in the State Level Selection Test (SLST) were on the merit list and received appointment letters.
