“We recovered data from mobile phones of the two accused (Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee) on August 2. We confronted them with the data for three days. We want to interrogate them in jail,” said an ED official.

Chasing the money trail, the CID officer said their sleuths suspected the trader's role in arranging the cash for the MLAs.

The state tested 6,879 samples in the last 24 hours, taking the total number tested so far to 2,59,95,806, the bulletin said At present, 13,123 persons are in home isolation in the state while 370 are in hospitals.

Also, the family members and relatives of the two, particularly Partha's son-in-law, are under the ED's scanner.

According to the police, there were a total 27 passengers, 10 of whom were declared dead on arrival by doctors at a nearby hospital.

Bratya Basu's remarks came after he chaired a meeting with top officials of West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC), West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) and West Bengal Primary Education Board (WBPEB).

Most district presidents and chairpersons have been replaced, according to a list issued by the party leadership.

The meeting was “fruitful” and they were “satisfied”, said the eight-member delegation who met Banerjee at his Camac Street office, where State Education Minister Bratya Basu and TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh were also present.

Trinamool Congress MLA from the Raiganj constituency Krishna Kalyani is the chairman of the company. Kalyani had contested the 2021 Assembly elections on a BJP ticket, and after his victory, he joined TMC in October 2021.

The rally in Behala, led by Leader of Opposition in state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari, assumes significance as Chatterjee was suspended from the TMC and striped of all ministerial berths.

Till late Thursday night, the searches were underway at Club Town Heights and Kishorepally in Belgharia, Royal Residency in Rajarhat and Eden Residency in Nayabad.

Addressing a news conference, Lahiri said as the per the CAG report of 2019-20, the state government is way behind in terms of GPD growth, revenue generation and capital expenditure.

In the letter, the Baharampur MP Adhir Chowdhury claimed that “irregularities” in the recruitment process by the School Service Commission (SSC) are an “open secret.”

In 2020, Sushovan Banerjee was conferred with the Padma Shri for his contribution in the field of medicine. In the same year, his name found place in the Guinness World Records for treating the maximum number of patients.

Since taking oath on May 20, 2011, Chatterjee has been using the minister's car provided by the Assembly. After his arrest, the same vehicle was seen in the premises of the Assembly. Later, it was learnt that Chatterjee had returned the vehicle.

A total of 14,646 samples were tested on Sunday at a positivity rate of 12.41 per cent.

Those injured are undergoing treatment at the Murshidabad Medical College, the officials said.

The ED, in its submission in the court, said Chatterjee was so “uncooperative” during the course of search at this premises that “he even struck off the typed portions mentioning in the details of incriminating documents seized from his premises.”

According to ED sources, the central agency has got the details of “joint property” in the names of Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee. A list of documents recovered from Chatterjee's residence also contained many property documents in Arpita's name, the sources claimed.

The Opposition party is deploying Union ministers such as Smriti Irani, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Dharmendra Pradhan, and Hardeep Singh Puri to strengthen its organisation in the 19 constituencies, which it failed to win last time.

No goods carriage including trucks and matador vehicles, will be allowed to enter the city from 4 am Wednesday till 8 pm Thursday. More than 40 police pickets have been set up at locations in and around the city.

The total Covid case count in the state till date now stands at 20,72,307. On Monday, Bengal witnessed five Covid-related deaths.

The TMC alleged that the BJP MLAs tried to “influence votes” by wearing symbolic dhoti and badges while casting their votes.

Purulia BJP MLA Sudeep Mukherjee alleged that Abhishek entered to vote with a convoy of 19 vehicles.