Kolkata, Oct. 28 -- The Enforcement Directorate (ED), on Tuesday, carried out raids at multiple locations, including a house in Beliaghata, in connection with the alleged municipal recruitment corruption case.
According to sources, one of the searches was conducted at a house on Hemchandra Naskar Road in Beliaghata. The ED recently traced several companies suspected to have links with the alleged irregularities in municipal recruitment. Acting on this information, officers raided the residence of Biswajit Chowdhury and Ranjit Chowdhury, who run two separate businesses. However, investigators are yet to determine how the Chowdhury brothers may be connected to the alleged scam. Raids were also carried out at several other premises across Kolkata from Tuesday morning. It may be recalled that on October 10, the ED conducted searches at the restaurant owned by state Fire and Emergency Services Minister Sujit Bose and his son, as well as at the residences of South Dum Dum Municipality vice-chairman Netai Dutta, a chartered accountant, and a businessman. Bose had later described the operation as an act of political vendetta, alleging that the Central agency was being used to pressure the Trinamool Congress ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
Earlier, on January 12, 2024, ED officials had searched Bose's two houses and office in Lake Town in connection with the same case. The operation had lasted about 12 hours.
The alleged municipal recruitment irregularities first surfaced during the CBI probe into the School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam. During a raid at the office of businessman Ayan Sil, the CBI reportedly
recovered several documents pointing to corruption in municipal appointments. Subsequently, the agency lodged an FIR and initiated a separate probe following an order of the Calcutta High Court.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.