• Bengal SSC scam: Partha Chatterjee airlifted to AIIMS Bhubaneswar

    Politics
    Bengal SSC scam: Partha Chatterjee airlifted to AIIMS Bhubaneswar

    Protests against West Bengal minister Partha
    Chatterjee broke out in Bhubaneswar the moment he entered the AIIMS premises.

    Digital Desk: Trinamool Congress Party leader and the former West Bengal Education minister, Partha Chatterjee, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), was flown to Bhubaneswar on Monday in an air ambulance after complaining of heart pain.

    He was seen leaving the SSKM hospital in Kolkata earlier today in a wheelchair before being taken to the airport in an ambulance.

    The ED arrested Chatterjee in connection with a scheme to recruit teachers at institutions sponsored and funded by the government.

    Hours after the ED remand, Chatterjee reported experiencing heart trouble and asked for "appropriate medical facilities" if ED custody was granted, according to Chatterjee's lawyer, Somnath Mukherjee, who spoke to reporters in Kolkata.

    The ED pleaded with the magistrate to send Chatterjee to Command Hospital rather than the government-run SSKM. According to ED, Chatterjee is a senior minister with a long history of service in government hospitals, where he wields considerable power. The judge did order that Chatterjee is sent to SSKM Hospital, though.

    The court ordered that the minister attend court at 4 p.m. on Monday before a special ED court in Kolkata.

    Arpita Mukherjee, a colleague of Chatterjee, was also brought by ED before a court, which remanded her to the agency's custody for a day.

    The TMC stated that it would not intervene politically if any leader is found to have committed wrongdoing while also calling for a time-bound investigation into the case against Chatterjee.

    Investigators from the ED conducted raids at multiple locations around the state on July 22 as part of their investigation into the financial connections in recruitment scams.

    On July 23, a day after the ED discovered massive amounts of cash worth over Rs 20 crore at Arpita Mukherjee's home, she was taken into custody.

    The purpose and use of a total of more than 20 mobile phones that were found on Arpita Mukherjee's property, a personal friend of Chatterjee's, are still being investigated, the investigation agency said.

    Along with cash, numerous additional incriminating documents, records, information about shady dubious businesses, technological gadgets, foreign currency, and gold have also been found at the various locations where the scammers were staying.