KOLKATA: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday carried out raids at the houses of food and supplies minister Rathin Ghosh on the outskirts of Kolkata and 12 other places linked to functionaries of TMC dominated civic bodies around the state capital in connection with the recruitment scam in municipalities.
The central agency, which is probing the laundering of proceeds of the recruitment scam, conducted the raids simultaneously.
Other locations raided by the ED include residences of Kamarhati municipality chairman and Baranagar municipality chairman, houses of deputy head of South Dum Dum civic body and former head Panchu Roy.
A total of 15 municipalities are under the scanner of the central agencies in connection with the recruitment scam following an order passed by the Calcutta High Court this year.
Ghosh is the former chairman of Madhyamgram municipality in north 24 Parganas and is accused of involvement in a scam to recruit unqualified candidates in the civic body in exchange for a bribe.
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According to sources in the ED, Ghosh’s name surfaced after it seized incriminating documents from an agency outsourced by various municipalities in the state to carry out the recruitment process which revealed significant irregularities in Madhyamgram municipality.
“The agency is owned by a TMC-backed promoter, Ayan Sil, who is presently in judicial custody. While conducting raids and search operations at Sil’s apartment in March this year in connection with irregularities in recruitment in state-aided primary schools, we first came across leads related to the multi-crore civic bodies’ recruitment scam,” said an ED official.
According to the estimate of the central agency, at least 1,500 unlawful recruitments took place in 15 municipalities in North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Hooghly, Nadia and Purulia districts.
Teams of the central agency, each comprising 8 to 10 personnel, carried out Thursday’s raids with the help of CRPF men, who stood guard outside the houses of the ruling party’s functionaries in the civic bodies.
“We searched Ghosh’s places thoroughly and seized documents. After examining the seized items, we will ask the minister to come up with satisfactory explanations,” said an ED official.