Odishatv Bureau

Soon after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) recovered a diary from actress-model Arpita Mukherjee’s residence during a raid in Kolkata, speculations is abuzz that the latter, who is a close aide of West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee and arrested in connection with the school job scam in Bengal, might have invested the black money in producing movies in Ollywood.

Notably, a black diary has been recovered from Mukherjee’s residence during a raid and it is believed that the diary holds key to the alleged scam.

According to sources, the diary contains details of many high-profile persons including politicians, movie directors and producers.

Arpita was active in the Bengali and Odia film industries between 2008 and 2014 and she had acted in at least six Odia movies during the period sparking speculations that she might have links with big directors, producers and production houses in the Odia film industry.

It is suspected she might have also produced the movies. The actress has acted in ‘Vande Utkal Janani’, ‘Prema Rogi’, ‘Kemiti Aa Bandhana’, ‘Mu Kana Ete Kharap’ and ‘Raju Awaara’. 

Moreover, many have questioned if she got the movies because of her talent or did she use the ‘scam’ money to produce the movies and become a part of them. 

Several questions have been raised over her involvement in the movies as most of them did not do well at the box office. The exact content of the black diary will be known only after the ED reveals more information about it. 

However, Odia film producer Basant Sahoo has laughed off the allegations and said, "She was an aspiring actress and did small roles. We used to provide her work. It is laughable that she would produce the movies when she herself was struggling back then."

Meanwhile, Batakrushna Tripathy, a former police official said, “Probe should be conducted to ascertain if she really used the black money to produce the movies.”

Meanwhile, Chatterjee and Mukherjee were sent to ED custody till August 3.

Worth mentioning, education minister Partha Chatterjee was arrested by the ED in connection with the alleged School Service Commission (SSC) scam in West Bengal. The ED unearthed many disproportionate assets of Partha Chatterjee since his arrest, of which were three flats in West Bengal's Diamond City. 

The arrest of Partha Chatterjee followed Rs 21 crore in cash and jewellery worth above Rs 1 crore being recovered from the Kolkata residence of Arpita Mukherjee, a close aide of the former education minister.

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