words per minute
3
VinayagamKarthick
00:00
Speed
Kolkata : West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee was stripped of his portfolios and his positions in the Trinamool Congress by chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday, six days after he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the cash-for-jobs scandal, in which the agency has thus far recovered cash worth ₹50 crore.The TMC suspended Chatterjee, also an office bearer in its state unit, adding that he could be reinstated if proven innocent.Chatterjee’s sacking from the posts came amidst a rising demand, even from within the party, for his removal, and on the evening of a day when ED said it seized ₹27.9 crore in cash and gold worth ₹4.31 crore from a flat that belongs to Arpita Mukherjee, a model and close aide of the former minister.The agency has thus far recovered ₹50 crore of cash and gold jewellery worth ₹5 crore from two flats belonging to Mukherjee and told a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court that the total amount involved could be around ₹120 crore.On Thursday, ED carried out a fresh raid in another flat believed to Mukherjee’s in a posh housing campus at Chinar Park in North 24 Parganas.Chatterjee was arrested on July 23 by ED in connection with alleged corruption in recruiting teachers during the last term of the TMC government, when he was an education minister.