Who is Arpita Mukherjee, ex-actress from whom Indian sleuths recovered millions in cash?

For a small-time actor Arpita Mukherjee, who has mostly played side roles in a few Indian films in her career, the rise has been meteoric. Mukherjee has been in news for the past week after she was arrested last Friday in Kolkata by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Raids were conducted last week at her plush south Kolkata apartment and the ED seized Rs 280 million(approx 3.5 million USD) from her flat which was suspected to be proceeds of kickbacks in the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment scam. Mukherjee is known to be a close associate of Trinamool Congress party leader and state minister Partha Chatterjee- a co-accussed in the case.

The money is allegedly back from the time when Chatterjee was in charge of the education portfolio. Chatterjee at present is the minister for industries and commerce. So far the ED has seized a cash, watches, jewellery worth USD 6.2 million.

Who is Arpita Mukherjee and what's her background

Local reports suggest Arpita Mukherjee had a meteoric rise in the past few years. She spent most of her childhood in a middle-class neighbourhood of Belgharia in North 24 Parganas and then moved to posh Tollywood area in Kolkata and stayed in an apartment in Diamond city-an upscale highrise apartment complex in south Kolkata.

In her social media profiles, Arpita claims to be an actor and model. Arpita started her career as a model back in 2004 and after a few years of struggle landed a small role in the Bengali film 'Mama Bhagne' in 2010 which had Bengali superstar Prasenjit Chatterjee playing the lead role. The following year she was part of a film called 'Bangla Bachao' which featured Paoli Dam, Prasenjit Chatterjee and others.

“She has acted in three films I produced, but I haven’t kept in touch with her. Twelve years later, I am hearing about her and that too in the news,” said film director and producer Anup Sengupta to The Print. Arpita has also acted in a few Tamil and Oriya films, claims her mother Minati who lives Belgharia at the family home. Arpita's father was a Central Government employee who passed away many years back. She has an elder sister who is married.

Association with Partha Chatterjee

Arpita has often accompanied Partha Chatterjee for several public and social events including the Durga Puja festivity of the Naktala area in Kolkata where Chatterjee is a patron. She even featured on the puja's music album cover in 2021. Arpita had even campaigned for Chatterjee during the 2021 Bengal assembly elections. . A photo of Mukherjee in an open jeep beside Partha Chatterjee and first-time Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Soham Chakraborty was widely shared on social media after her arrest.

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Not a part of TMC

Ever since her arrest, members of the ruling party have vehemently denied any association with Arpita. TMC general secretary Kunal Ghosh denied any link with her. “I want to reiterate (that) Arpita Mukherjee has no links with the TMC; she is not a party member. The party has nothing to do with her or the money recovered from her house. Many activists and people from various walks of life share stages at Trinamool Congress programmes but that doesn’t mean they are a part of TMC,” he told the media Sunday.

Meanwhile, leader of the opposition BJP Suvendu Adhikari has shared old photos of Arpita sharing the stage with Chatterjee and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from an earlier Durga Puja event. Adhikari also shared another image of Arpita that he claims is from a TMC event held on July 21.

While Arpita has denied her association with Partha Chatterjee during the preliminary round of investigation, what remains to be seen is how the investigative team would establish the link between the two.