ED Raids TMC Leaders’ Houses In Municipal  Jobs Scam Investigation

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has conducted raids at the homes of some leaders from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) party in West Bengal. These raids are part of an investigation into the Civic Jobs Scam in local municipalities.

Among those whose houses were raided are Sujit Bose, a minister in West Bengal, and Tapas Roy, a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). The former chairman of the North Dumdum Municipality Subodh Chakraborty was also included. 

The ED, along with central security forces, searched two houses of Bose in Lake Town and the homes of Roy and Chakraborty in other parts of Kolkata.

The issue started when the ED arrested a builder named Ayan Sheel in March for his alleged involvement in a scam related to school jobs. During their investigation, the ED found answer sheets for municipal job exams at Sheel’s office, which led them to suspect a bigger scam involving civic body recruitments.

Last year, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) questioned Sujit Bose as part of their inquiry into irregular recruitments in municipal bodies between 2014 and 2016. The Calcutta High Court had allowed the investigation to continue despite the state government’s request to stop it.

The ED and CBI have linked this municipal jobs scam with another scandal in the West Bengal school education department. As a result, former education minister Partha Chatterjee was arrested. 

Sujit Bose, who was vice chairman of South Dum Dum Municipality from 2010 to 2021, is being looked at closely because around 250 people were hired during his tenure.

In response to these raids, the opposition party BJP has labeled the TMC leaders as ‘thieves’. The TMC, on the other hand, accuses the BJP of using the ED for political revenge. 

The West Bengal Governor, CV Ananda Bose, has commented on the situation but has kept some details confidential as the investigation is ongoing.

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An Enforcement Directorate (ED) team was attacked last week and damaged while trying to raid the house of a block-level Trinamool Congress (TMC) functionary in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district.

The agency was raiding the premises of two leaders, Shahjahan Sheikh and Shankar Adhya, and their relatives. State food minister Jyoti Priya Mallick has been arrested in connection with the alleged ration scam. The ED officials had to return to Kolkata.

Alongside this, the BJP in West Bengal protested against the attack on the ED team earlier this month. But the West Bengal police stopped the  BJP rally.