WB recruitment scam: ED raids five places, including house of state minister

Three TMC legislators have already been arrested by the federal agencies in connection with the alleged scam for their alleged involvement in the scam

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday conducted fresh raids in at least five places across West Bengal, including at the house of state minister Chandranath Sinha in Birbhum district, in connection with the alleged multi-crore school recruitment scam in the state.

Representational image.

Sinha, a Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislator from Bolpur in Birbhum, was not present at home when officials of the federal agency reached his house; he is the state MSME and textiles minister.

A senior official said that raids were being conducted simultaneously in at least five places in Kolkata, North 24 Parganas and Birbhum.

The ED teams searched the houses of a businessman and a tax consultant in Kolkata and North 24 Parganas.

In May 2022, the CBI started a probe into the scam on the orders of the Calcutta high court, wherein appointments in state-run schools were allegedly made for monetary gains. Later, the ED started a parallel probe to unearth the monetary trail.

Former judge of the Calcutta high court Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who ordered the probe by the central agencies into the scam, recently resigned from his post and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Three TMC legislators, including former education minister Partha Chatterjee, have already been arrested by the federal agencies in connection with the alleged scam for their alleged involvement in the scam. They are now in judicial custody.

TMC MP and the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has also been questioned by the CBI and ED in connection with the same scam in 2023. In October last year, the TMC MP’s father, Amit Banerjee – one of the younger siblings of chief minister Mamata Banerjee – and his wife Lata Banerjee skipped the agency’s summons citing health reasons. Rujira Banerjee, Abhishek’s wife, however, appeared before the investigators.