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Did Arpita Mukherjee travel to Singapore with Partha Chatterjee in 2012? ED corroborates evidence

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Did Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee travel to Singapore together for a business summit in 2012? The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is piecing together evidence after several people reported that the two were seen together in Singapore to where Chatterjee had flown in his official capacity as minister to attend the ‘Beautiful Bengal’ summit that was meant to attract investment for the state of West Bengal.

This was barely a year after the Trinamool Congress stormed to power in the state.

“Yes, we have received certain inputs and are looking into the matter. This business summit was held during an alumni get-together of a renowned educational institution in Kolkata at Singapore. This has nothing to do with the institution. However, there were several people from the city present during the event and some have reported that they spotted Mukherjee with the minister during the trip. We are corroborating evidence,” an ED official said.

This information in the hands of the ED is significant as certain incriminating documents seized from Chatterjee’s residence and the upscale apartment of Mukherjee date back to recruitments through the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) of 2012. While some have claimed that Chatterjee, with full knowledge of the party’s top leadership, began recruiting non-qualified or under-qualified teachers in lieu of money since 2012, those close to the Trinamool maintain that all the unaccounted-for cash recovered from Mukherjee’s condo is post demonetisation, hence the racket doesn’t go so far back.

“There have been several clandestine land deals for nearly 10 years now. Several properties worth crores of rupees are now under our scanner. Money earned before demonetisation may have been invested in property. What was seized from the residence of Arpita Mukherjee may have been some of the earnings after new currency notes got circulated. We are sure that this is not something that happened over the last 3-4 years alone. Yes, a hue and cry by eligible candidates over the last two years did lead to this investigation. Those who suffered earlier may not have been aware that they had been cheated,” the official added.

Even a section of Trinamool leaders is now worried about the kind of brazenness being displayed by Chief Minister and party supremo Mamata Banerjee. Ideally, people would have liked to see Chatterjee removed from his post as a cabinet minister after his arrest and remand to ED custody for 10 days. Instead of doing that, Mamata seems to be protecting her image.

“We are worried. This is the time of social and digital media and nearly every person sitting in a remote village has access to a smartphone. Many TET and SSB aspirants who were cheated are from the rural areas. We will be going in for the panchayat polls in 2023. Will Didi’s bravado suffice in convincing voters that she knew nothing for so many years? Then, why is she not sacking Chatterjee immediately instead of creating a martyr out of him? Today, there is no doubt in people’s minds that Chatterjee is corrupt. The party need not stand by him any longer,” a senior Trinamool leader said.

Opposition leaders like Sujan Chakraborty and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury maintain that Mamata can’t ditch Chatterjee just like that as he may spill the beans on other corrupt practices adopted by the West Bengal Government over the last decade. While Suvendu Adhikari, BJP MLA and Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, continues to Tweet video clips of Mamata addressing Mukherjee as if she knows her for long at public gatherings, Chowdhury has demanded Chatterjee’s removal from the Cabinet.

Crime

Haryana IPS suicide: Punjab Scheduled Caste panel seeks report from Chandigarh DGP

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Chandigarh, Oct 11: The Punjab State Scheduled Castes Commission on Saturday took suo moto notice in the suicide case of Haryana’s ADGP Y. Puran Kumar in Chandigarh and sought a report from the Chandigarh Director General of Police.

Commission Chairman Jasvir Singh Garhi said this matter has come to his notice through the media, on which he has taken action and he has instructed the Director General of Police of Chandigarh to submit a report regarding this matter and the action taken so far on the suicide note and the complaint given by his wife Amneet Kaur through an ADGP-level officer to the commission on October 13.

Also, the Scheduled Castes Commission Chairman will visit the victim’s family’s house on October 13.

Meanwhile, Jai Narayan, a spokesperson for the 31-member committee for justice for Puran Kumar, told the media here that they formed this 31-member committee on Friday to sustain the movement across all over Haryana with key members from various regions.

“The government has not conducted any meaningful investigation, and we demand that at the very least, those responsible be terminated; only then will the post-mortem be performed,” he said.

Meanwhile, protests were held in Rohtak, demanding arrest of the accused in the suicide case. Inspector General of Puran Kumar, who allegedly shot himself dead at his Chandigarh residence on October 7 with his service revolver, left behind a “final note”.

The victim’s spouse, Amneet P. Kumar, a Haryana cadre senior bureaucrat, in a letter to Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has sought justice for her husband.

The letter, marked urgent and confidential, two days ago expressed anguish over what she described as a “grave injustice” and “complete administrative inaction” even after more than 48 hours of her husband’s death.

In a nine-page “suicide note”, Puran Kumar reportedly accused nine serving IPS officers of the Haryana Police, a retired IPS officer and three retired IAS officers of “caste-based discrimination”.

The serving officers included DGP Shatrujeet Singh Kapur and Rohtak Superintendent of Police Narendra Bijarniya.

Meanwhile, the government has removed Bijarniya from his post and has been replaced by Surinder Singh Bhoria as the Superintendent of Police of Rohtak.

No posting has been given to Bijarniya as of now. Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi wrote a letter to the wife of late Haryana IPS officer, saying the incident “reveals that even the highest-level officers can be denied social justice on account of discriminatory attitude”.

“The passing away of Mr Y Puran Kumar reveals that even the highest-level officers can be denied social justice on account of the discriminatory attitude and the preconceived notions of the powers that be. Crores of Indians stand with you in your fight for justice,” she wrote.

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Mumbai Press Exclusive News

Crores of rupees were defrauded in the name of government jobs, the accused was arrested from Delhi… The accused had received money from hundreds of unemployed people

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Mumbai: The Mumbai Economic Wing has claimed to have arrested the accused in a case of cheating in the name of getting government jobs in the central and state governments in several districts of Maharashtra. Santosh Ganpat, a businessman from Navi Mumbai, filed a complaint that the accused Nilesh Kanshi Ram Rathore had charged him Rs 5 lakh for a government job and Rs 5 to 15 lakh for medical tests and appointment letters. The EOW has registered a case against him because he has cheated him of Rs 2.88 crore by promising him a job and during the investigation it was revealed that he has cheated him of Rs 10 crore. The Economic Wing has formed a team to arrest the absconding accused and searched him in Akola and other areas. The accused cheated hundreds of youths for recruitment in RCF in 2022. His complaint was filed with the EOW. The EOW received information that the accused was trying to escape from Delhi, on which the police arrested him from Delhi. The accused has been booked in Mumbai EOW and Pune Deccan. A criminal case has been registered and further investigation is underway. This operation has been carried out under the leadership of EOW chief Nisht Mishra.

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Mumbai Press Exclusive News

ANC action, drugs worth crores seized, 6 arrested

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Mumbai: The Anti-Narcotics Cell has claimed to have arrested six drug smugglers, including a Nigerian, including a Nigerian, including MD and Natropum tablets worth Rs 7.01 crore, during operations at various locations in Mumbai. 523 grams of cocaine, worth Rs 5.23 crore, was seized from a Nigerian in Vakola, Mumbai. Five accused were arrested in raids conducted in Ghatkopar, Kurla CST, Mazgaon, tardeo, Borivali areas, from whose possession Mephedone MD worth Rs 54.65 lakh was seized. These are part of five inter-state drug gangs. Other drugs including Natropum tablets were also seized in this operation. This operation was carried out by DCP Nunath Dhule on the instructions of the Mumbai Police Commissioner.

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