Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids at 12 locations in connection with the multi-crore cash-for-municipalities recruitment scam...
Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids at 12 locations in connection with the multi-crore cash-for-municipalities recruitment scam in West Bengal have been continuing since early Thursday.
The raids started simultaneously at 12 locations from around 5 a.m., and
each team of the raiding ED sleuths was escorted by armed personnel from
central armed police forces personnel.
The important places where the raids are continuing include the
residences of the state food & supplies minister and former chairman of Madhyamgram
Municipality Rathin Ghosh; Kamarhati Municipality chairman Gopal Saha;
Baranagar Municipality chairman Aparna Moulik and South Dum Dum Municipality
vice- chairman Nitai Dutta, among others. All these four municipalities are in
North 24 Parganas district.
Sources said that besides conducting raid and search operations, the
central agency sleuths are also questioning Ghosh about his knowledge of the
recruitments in Madhyamgram Municipality as he was the erstwhile chairman here.
As per ED estimates of the many urban civic bodies scattered throughout
the state that are under the central agency scanner because of the recruitment
irregularities there, the maximum is from North 24 Parganas district.
Ghosh has questioned the timing of the raid and search operations which
are coinciding with the Trinamool Congress’ announcement of the ‘March to Raj
Bhavan’ agitation in Kolkata as a mark of protest against the Delhi Police over
its action on the elected party representatives at Krishi Bhavan in Delhi on
Tuesday evening.
“ED raids have become a common factor in West Bengal. However, the
outcomes of such raid and search operations are generally zero. But this will
not affect our ‘March to Raj Bhavan’ programme,” he said
Ghosh’s name came up in the case after incriminating documents procured
by the ED showed his involvement when he was the chairman of Madhyamgram
Municipality in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.
Ghosh’s name surfaced following incriminating
documents seized by ED sleuths from ABS Infozone, the agency outsourced by
different municipalities in the state for conducting the recruitment
examination process there, which indicated massive irregularities in the
recruitment process in Madhyamgram Municipality between 2014 and 2018.
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