Municipality jobs scam: ED raids Bengal minister’s premises in Kolkata

Kolkata: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Friday raided the premises of West Bengal minister and TMC leader Sujit Bose in Kolkata in connection with a municipality jobs scam.

Tight security has been deployed at the locations, where the raids are underway.

More details are awaited.

The alleged irregularities in municipality recruitments came to the fore when the ED arrested Kolkata-based builder Ayan Sheel on March 19 in connection with the school jobs scam.

The ED claimed that OMR (answer) sheets of candidates for various posts in several municipalities were found at Ayan’s Salt Lake office during a search.

Earlier in August last year, the CBI summoned Bose for questioning in the ongoing probe into alleged irregularities in municipal appointments between 2014 and 2016.

The Kolkata High Court had rejected the state government’s petition seeking a stay on the Calcutta High Court order for a CBI probe into the alleged scam in municipal hirings.

The agencies (CBI and ED) had informed the Calcutta high court that there were links between the civic body recruitment scam and the bribe-for-job scam in the West Bengal school education department, in which former education minister Partha Chatterjee has been arrested.

Bose was vice chairman of South Dum Dum Municipality from 2010 to 2021 when nearly 250 people were recruited. He is the first cabinet minister to be summoned in this case.