Rise and fall of Arpita Mukherjee: Small-time actor who became part of Trinamool’s charmed circles

Arpita, who was the face of the puja committee that year, now finds herself in a spotlight of another kind. A co-accused with Chatterjee in the recruitment scam, she finds her face and videos splashed across television screens, along with images of trunks, ostensibly filled with cash, ornaments and allegedly incriminating documents that have been seized from Chatterjee’s residence and Arpita’s posh apartment in Diamond City, Haridevpur, on the southern fringes of Kolkata, and from another of her apartments in the city’s Belgharia locality.

Those who have known her say Arpita more than made up for the slow pace of Dewanpara, a small neighbourhood in Belgharia on the outskirts of Kolkata where she grew up – she moved into the world of glamour and modelling, before acting in a few films and finally, got a toehold in politics, as the “aide” of senior minister Partha Chatterjee. In the 2021 Assembly polls, Arpita campaigned for at least three candidates of the Trinamool Congress.

“She was into singing and modelling. Then she acted in few Bengali and Odia films. She doesn’t stay here anymore,” said Arpita’s mother Minati at the family’s two-storied house in Dewanpara.

Neighbour Soumendranath Chatterjee, 66, says, “Arpita’s family has stayed here for years. The family used to own some land here. Arpita and her sister lost their father when they were very young.”

According to sources, Arpita started her modelling career in 2004, before acting in around three Bengali films, mostly doing side roles. She also tried her hands in a few Odia films.

“Arpita did three films with me. Initially she used to come to film shoots in a cab. Later she bought a second-hand car which she drove herself. We worked together in Jeena, The Bhoot of Roseville and a docu-feature, Bidehir Khoje Rabindranath,” said Sanghamitra Chowdhury, a movie director who joined the BJP and is now the party’s South Kolkata district leader.

“Those days, neither of us knew anything about politics. I joined the BJP in 2013 inspired by Modiji and we soon lost touch. I did not know she was close to Trinamool leaders,” added Sanghamitra.

“I am shocked to hear about the cash and properties. Arpita worked with me in a few films — Mama Bhagne, Bangla Banchao, and a guest appearance in Pratidwandhi. This was between 2009 and 2012. She was in touch with me until 2017 and she would ask if I had projects for her,” said director-producer Anup Sengupta.

According to sources in the Trinamool Congress, it was around 2017 that Arpita became part of the party’s celebrity brigade. As part of an attempt to widen the party’s electoral appeal, Mamata Banerjee has roped in several celebrities over the years, from established stars such as Chiranjeet Chakraborty and Dev Adhikary to relatively newer faces Nusrat Jahan and Mimi Chakraborty. Though Arpita was never a known face in Bengal’s film industry, there were enough events patronised by politicians and celebrities where she found a platform.

“She was not a big celebrity or actress. But whenever our leaders ask us to arrange for actresses to add a touch of glamour to the Durga Puja committees they patronised, we would approach Arpita and other small-time actors,” said a Trinamool Congress leader who spoke on condition of anonymity, adding that she was spotted by Chatterjee and made the ambassador of the Naktala club of which he was a patron.

“She would accompany Partha da to his various campaigns during the 2021 polls, especially in his Behala Paschim constituency,” the leader added.

Arpita is also known to have campaigned for Food Minister Rathin Ghosh in Madhyamgram and Aniruddha Biswas in Kalyani. While calls and messages to Rathin Ghosh went unanswered, Biswas confirmed that Chatterjee and Arpita attended his campaign rally. “Both Partha Da and Arpita campaigned for me. The campaign and their public meetings were organised by the party,” Biswas told The Indian Express.

About 15 minutes from her ancestral house is Belgharia, where Arpita has two apartments in ‘Club Town Heights’, a building near the Kamarhati municipality office. Both the flats are under lock and key. The notice board of the building has a list of members who have defaulted on the maintenance fee — Arpita’s name is on this list with Rs 9,099 against her name.

Ankit Churaria, secretary of the building complex, said, “She would come here but never stayed here for too many days.”

On Wednesday, officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out a raid here and seized Rs 27.90 crore in cash apart from over Rs 4 crore worth of gold from her two flats in the building.

On July 23, the ED had seized Rs 22 crore, apart from foreign currency, ornaments and a number of property deeds, from Arpita’s apartment in Diamond City in South Kolkata.