Partha says he has ‘no money’

Former Trinamul Congress minister Partha Chatterjee, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the School Service Commission jobs scam, has claimed that he possesses “no money”, and denied owning the cash, amounting to nearly `50 crore, seized from two flats of his close friend and co-accused Arpita Mukherjee.

The Behala West TMC MLA also asserted that “time would reveal the conspirators” against him. Though he did not point his finger at anyone this time, his party was apparently hurt by his claims and hit back at him once again.

On Sunday, the former TMC minister was taken by the Central agency to ESI Hospital in Joka for a routine medical checkup. Asked about the ED recovery of the mountain of cash, he said: “I have no money. It is also not my money.” On his previous allegations of a conspiracy, Chatterjee said: “When the time comes, you will get to know who is hatching the conspiracy.”

TMC spokesman Kunal Ghosh wondered why Chatterjee did not talk about having “no money” earlier. “Initially he did not call it a conspiracy. He also did not say anything on the seizure of the money earlier. Why didn’t he talk about these on the very first day? Now he has started making such statements. It seems one day he would fail to recognise himself and Arpita also,” Ghosh said sarcastically.

BJP national vice-president and Midnapore MP Dilip Ghosh said: “First, Arpita claimed that the money did not belong to her. Now Chatterjee made the same claim. If none of them owned the money, who brought it and kept it there?”