The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is carrying out raids at the premises of West Bengal minister and Trinamool Congress leader Sujit Bose in the state capital, Kolkata, in connection with the alleged civic body recruitment scam.
The development comes as the central agency conducts search and seizure in parts of Kolkata and its fringes in connection with its ongoing probe into the alleged recruitment scam in state-run schools in West Bengal.
Among other senior TMC leaders, houses of party spokesperson Tapas Roy and former North Dum Dum Municipality chairman Subodh Chakraborty are also being searched by the central agency.
On December 28 last year, the probe agency carried out simultaneous raids at nine different places in the city in its bid to probe the school recruitment scam case. Offices and residents of different people were raided in the capital city’s Burrabazar area, Kakurgachi and EM Bypass.
The minister of state’s fire and emergency services was summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last year in connection with alleged irregularities in recruitment in the state’s municipalities.
However, Bose claimed that he did not receive any summons notice from the CBI and assured while addressing a presser that he’d appear before the probe agency if he received any notice. He further alleged a political conspiracy to target him.
The Bengal minister was earlier the vice-chairman of South Dum Dum Municipality from 2010 to 2021, when around 250 people were recruited to the civic body allegedly in an unscrupulous manner.
The CBI and ED had earlier informed the Calcutta high court about a link between the cases related to the civic body recruitment scam and the West Bengal school recruitment scam.