Nearly six days after he was arrested in the West Bengal School Service Commission recruitment scam, Partha Chatterjee, on Thursday, was relieved of his ministerial responsibilities. He was also suspended from the Trinamool Congress party.

“Partha Chatterjee, Minister in charge, Department of Industry, Commerce and Enterprises, Department of Information Technology and Electronics, Department of Parliamentary Affairs and Department of Public Enterprises and Industrial Reconstruction, is hereby relieved of his duties as minister in charge of the aforesaid departments with effect from the 28th day of July, 2022,” said a notification by the West Bengal government on Thursday.

Mamata to handle portfolios

According to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, all the departments handled by Chatterjee would now be handled by her.

“All the departments with Partha da(Partha Chatterjee) are coming to me. There has to be a cabinet reshuffle (for the portfolio to be allocated to others). I have relieved him of his ministerial duties,” she said.

 Hours later TMC suspended Partha Chaterjee and removed him from all posts

“All the members of the disciplinary committee unanimously decided that he (Partha Chatterjee) should be suspended from the party pending investigation,” TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said after a party meeting. He further stressed on the need for a time-bound investigation in the case and said, “we all want to know what is the source of the money recovered.”

Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday seized ₹28 crore from one of the residences of Arpita Mukherjee, one of the associates of the Minister.

This was the second instance when cash was recovered from one of properties of Arpita Mukherjee. On July 22, cash and jewelry worth ₹21.90 crore was seized from the residence of Mukherjee which led to the arrest. The amount of cash and jewelry seized at two places has crossed ₹50 crore so far.

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