The Trinamul Congress on Saturday made it amply clear that action will be taken against arrested state industry minister Partha Chatterjee, if he is proven guilty in the SSC scam.
Meanwhile, anandabazar.com reports that Chatterjee has been admitted to the SSKM Hospital.
The senior member of the Mamata Banerjee cabinet is in ED custody with his close aide Arpita Mukherjee also arrested after the probe agency officials seized Rs 21 crore and jewelleries in crores from her premises.
Attending a press meet, party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh made it clear that no punitive action will be taken against Chatterjee unless verdict is passed. "We have full faith in judiciary and let law take its own course," said Ghosh.
Blasting the BJP for hatching a conspiracy, city mayor Firhad Hakim added as quoted by ABP Ananda, "You are saved if you are in BJP."
Taking potshots at TMC turncoat, Suvendu Adhikari who switched loyalties to the saffron party, Ghosh wondered why law was silent on him.
Elaborating on the money seized, Ghosh refuted all allegations of the party's involvement. "We have nothing to do with it. But we are curious to ascertain the source of the money," Ghosh said.
Giving a lowdown on the party's future course of action, Ghosh said the party will hit the streets to fight the BJP tooth and nail.
Hakim on the other hand said that the party wouldn't succumb to BJP's pressure tactics.
Earlier in the day, ED arrested Chatterjee as a part of ongoing investigations into alleged irregularities in recruitment of teachers and other staff for government-aided schools after he was grilled for over 24 hours amid search operations across the state.
The Bengal industry minister was taken to the court after undergoing a medical examination at ESI Hospital in Joka.
ED officials also arrested Mukherjee, a close aide of Chatterjee after close to Rs 21 crore cash was recovered in raids conducted through Friday on her premises.
Sources have told anandabazar.com that the probe agency has also seized jewellery worth Rs 50 lakh from her home. More than 20 mobile phones were also recovered. Officials are now trying to ascertain what these were used for.
The CBI, as directed by the high court, is looking into the alleged irregularities committed in the recruitment of Group-C and D staff as well as teachers in government-sponsored and aided schools on recommendations of the West Bengal School Service Commission. The ED is tracking the money trail in the scam.
Chatterjee, currently industries and commerce minister, held the education portfolio when the scam was allegedly pulled off. He was interrogated by the CBI twice, once on April 26 and then on May18.
The BJP, however, maintained that the TMC aided large-scale anomalies in the recruitment process of teachers at primary, upper primary and secondary level since coming to power.
"TMC leaders and people close to them duped lakhs of qualified youths and handed over their jobs to ineligible ones. The CBI and ED are progressing on the right path. More skeletons will tumble out of the cupboard. The BJP has no role to play in the issue," the saffron party's national vice-president, Dilip Ghosh, added.
