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Kolkata, Oct 11 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has shifted its focus to the sources of money invested in businesses owned by West Bengal Fire Services Minister Sujit Bose and his son Samudra Bose as part of its probe into the multi-crore municipal recruitment scam in the state.
According to sources, ED officials suspect irregularities in the flow of funds in several enterprises linked to the minister and his son between 2016 and 2020.
On Friday, the agency conducted extensive raids at Bose’s office and a restaurant owned by his son. The operation, which began early in the morning and continued until midnight, seized what officials described as “incriminating documents” suggesting dubious funding sources.
The ED also raided the office of Nitai Dutta, vice-president of South Dum Dum Municipality and close to Sujit Bose.
Officials also reportedly recovered additional documents there. The agency is currently investigating around 300 recruitments made in the South Dum Dum Municipality, including at least 29 appointments made in a single day – reportedly without conducting any interviews.
Reacting to the raids, Sujit Bose dismissed it as “meaningless” and part of a “routine practice” by central agencies ahead of elections. Assembly elections are to be held in West Bengal next year.
This is not the first time that the minister has come under the scanner. In January 2024, the ED had conducted simultaneous searches at his residence and office, seizing documents and his mobile phone.
The ED’s latest action comes as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is running a parallel investigation in the same case, is preparing to file a fresh chargesheet.
According to CBI sources, the son of a politically influential person has already been questioned in connection with the scam, though his name has not been disclosed.
The investigation stemmed from a CBI FIR registered following directions from the Calcutta High Court, which had found that the recruitment scam extended beyond school appointments to municipal level appointments across West Bengal.
–IANS
SRC/SKP