NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate carried out raids at All India Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra as part of a money laundering investigation linked to an alleged municipality recruitment scam, the official said on Saturday. They said a total of seven premises linked to Mitra, a former minister in the Mamata Banerjee cabinet, were searched.
Mitra represents the Kamarhati assembly seat in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district.
It is alleged that Mitra received bribes in the form of cash and gold through middlemen in relation to the appointment of undeserving candidates for various posts to different municipalities, including Kamarhati municipality, ED officials said.
They claimed Mitra is “linked” to 125 such illegal appointments. Raids also took place at a property in Beleghata in north Kolkata and the premises of two local clubs in Bhabanipur and Santoshpur, the officials added.
The leader was questioned by the investigators at his Dhirendranath Gupta Road residence in Bhabanipur, where he was reportedly staying with his family.
The ED officers are looking to trace paper documents involving financial transactions in connection with the case, they said.
The federal probing agency stated that the raids are based on leads obtained from businessman Ayan Sil, who was arrested on March 20, 2023, in connection with the same case.
Sil is alleged to have been involved in conducting recruitment processes for multiple municipalities through his company, ABS Infozone Private Limited.
The ED accused the firm of irregularities in preparing OMR sheets, organising examinations, and managing interview procedures for recruitments in state-run schools.