The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday conducted a major operation in south Kolkata targeting a businessman linked to the alleged municipal recruitment scandal in West Bengal. During the raid, unaccounted cash and jewellery worth crores were seized as investigations into the jobs-for-cash network deepen.
Raids intensify in city’s municipal recruitment case
Investigators began searches at the Taratala area residence of a prominent Kolkata businessman on Tuesday, as part of the ongoing probe into the municipal recruitment scam. Officials said nearly ₹2 crore in cash had been recovered so far, and counting continued into Wednesday, according to a PTI report.
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In addition to cash, a luxurious collection of gold jewellery worth approximately ₹10 crore was seized from the businessman’s Lake Town residence. The ED said the action is based on intelligence linking the individual’s firms and properties with irregularities in the recruitment of staff in municipal bodies. Earlier this month, the agency had raided 13 locations, including the Salt Lake office of state Fire Minister Sujit Bose and a restaurant owned by his son, in connection with the same scam.
Probe widens as money trail traced across firms
The municipal recruitment scam is currently under investigation and involves alleged bribes, shell companies and misuse of public-sector jobs for personal gain. The ED is now tracing the money trail across multiple companies, properties and bank accounts, and the recent raid points to deepening of the probe.
"We started the raids yesterday in connection with the municipal recruitment scam. We have seized a huge amount of cash. The counting is on," an official told PTI.
The case has raised political stakes, as attention turns to recruitment irregularities in municipal jobs and how funds may have been laundered through real estate and corporate entities. The agency is expected to interrogate the businessman further, freeze assets, and possibly link the seizures with charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Meanwhile, the public and aspirants for municipal jobs are watching closely as the investigation unfolds.
