Fact Check: Does Sacked Minister Partha Chatterjee Own Luxury Flat To Keep His Dogs?

New Delhi: Skeletons are tumbling out of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Partha Chatterjee’s cupboard.

Chatterjee was arrested four days ago in the West Bengal School Service Commission teacher recruitment case, while the Enforcement Directorate (ED) recovered around Rs 50 crore in cash a huge amount of gold jewellery from two flats of his close associate Arpita Mukherjee.

Now it has been claimed that Chatterjee, who was sacked as minister by CM Mamata Banerjee a few hours earlier, owns a luxury flat in Kolkata exclusively for his dogs!

“Monalisa Das, another acquaintance of Partha Chatterjee, who was admitted to a university in 2014, is today a professor there and the head of department of Bengali. She has 10 flat papers in his name… One of them is a super luxury flat where Partha Chatterjee keeps only his pet dogs,” Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi said on Thursday.

Hitting out at TMC, Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi questioned West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s silence over the issue.

“Those who spoke of Maa, Maati, Manush (mother, earth and people) only care about money, money, money… Piles of cash were recovered but chief minister Mamata Banerjee is silent,” Lekhi said at a press conference at the BJP headquarters here.

Mamata subsequently removed Chatterjee as state minister.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials have this far recovered around Rs 50 crore in cash and a huge amount of gold jewellery from two flats linked to Chatterjee’s close aide Arpita Mukherjee.

Lekhi further claimed that Arpita told ED officials that Chatterjee used her house as an ‘ATM’, with money being given from the bottom to the top.

“It is understood who is the lower one, but who is the upper one? That should also come to the fore,” Lekhi demanded.