Rs 27,90,00,000, 5 kg gold: ED's treasure hunt at Arpita Mukherjee’s second flat

The Enforcement Directorate found another Rs 27.9 crore and Rs 4.3 crore of gold at the second apartment of Arpita Mukherjee, a close aide of Bengal minister Partha Mukherjee. The agency had recovered Rs 21 crore from her first apartment. 

The agency officials took 10 hours to count the money, and said that a huge amount of the money was recovered from the toilet. 

The recovered money, neatly arranged in a pile to form the letters ‘ED’, were in notes of 2,000 and 500 denominations. The cash of Rs 27.9 crore was packed in bundles of 50 lakh for Rs 2,000 notes and 20 lakh for Rs 500 notes. 

The gold recovered was in three gold bricks of 1 kg each, six kangans of 500 gm each, a gold pen, and other jewellery, amounting to a total of 5 kg. 

In the first raid, the agency found Rs 21.90 crore in cash, Rs 56 lakh in foreign currency and gold worth Rs 76 lakh, amounting to a total seizure of Rs 23.22 crore. 

The probe agency is raiding her residences in connection with an alleged teacher recruitment scam in West Bengal. The amounts discovered is believed to be the proceeds of the crime. 

However, Mukherjee told the agency that the piles and piles of cash recovered from her home belonged to state minister Partha Chatterjee. She said that the money was infused in companies linked to her. 

Mukherjee added that the plan was to move the cash from her house in a couple of days but the raids foiled it. 

Both Chatterjee and Mukherjee have been sent to ED custody till August 3.

Also read: West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee arrested over school jobs scam