EXCLUSIVE: Arpita Mukherjee's driver spills beans; says she 'would visit Partha Chatterjee in...'

Arpita's driver Pranab Bhattacharya was present when the Enforcement Directorate raid took place on July 22 on Arpita's Diamond City South flat

Kolkata: According to sources, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has begun the process of freezing at least three bank accounts of suspended TMC leader Partha Chatterjee's associate Arpita Mukherjee, where they have found at least Rs 2 crore. Meanwhile, Zee News caught up with Arpita's driver Pranab Bhattacharya for an exclusive interview on the whole incident. Pranab was present when the ED raid took place on July 22 on Arpita's Diamond City South flat. Here are some key points from the interview:

- I started working with Arpita Mukherjee in January this year. It’s been almost seven months that I have been working for her. 

- I got this job after I had met Partha Chatterjee and requested him to give me a job. I was asked to leave my phone number at his office and was told that I will be connected when there is an opportunity. Sometime later, I received a call from his office, saying there was a job that's available - the job was that of driving Arpita Mukherjee’s car. 

- There were a total of three cars that I saw at Diamond City South flat - a Honda City, a Mercedes Benz and a Mini Cooper. But I was only allowed to drive the Honda City car.  However, in the last couple of months, I haven’t seen the Mercedes Benz and Mini Cooper, I don’t know where they are. 

- I would drive her to work when she would go to her office or to parlours

- She would reside in the Diamond City South flat and Partha Chatterjee would meet her often. Sometimes at the end of the day, after finishing work, Arpita would go to Behala to meet Partha Chatterjee. I would be told to drop her at Partha Chatterjee’s house and would go back to her apartment to park the car. 

- Recently, she went to Santiniketan with her mother, sister and brother-in-law. I drove them to the house that she owned in Santiniketan. We stayed there for two days. 

- Kalyan Dhar, the brother-in-law would mostly look after her work; he used to frequently visit her. 

- I don’t really know much about money dealings, I never saw anything being carried in the car that I drove. Also, I used to collect the keys of the car from the home and wait in the car. I did not spend much time in her flat, so I don’t know what exactly was going on there. 

-  I was present during the ED raid on July 22. They took away my phone and asked me to wait on the balcony. They asked me about the whereabouts of Arpita Mukherjee, what she did and whom all she met. I was let off after questioning and was told my phone will be returned to me.