The CBI on Wednesday searched offices of several municipalities around Calcutta as part of its probe into alleged irregularities in recruitments in the civic bodies.
The operation began in the morning with a CBI team visiting the Salt Lake office of the department of urban development and municipal affairs, headed by minister Firhad Hakim.
The sleuths then went to the offices of the Baranagar, Dum Dum, North Dum Dum, Kamarhati, Panihati, New Barrackpore, Halisahar, Titagarh and Shantipur municipalities.
A CBI team visited the Chinsurah office and house of businessman Ayan Sil, whom the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had arrested for his alleged involvement in irregularities in recruitments in government-aided schools.
Sil, now in judicial custody, was also allegedly involved in recruiting close to 5,000 candidates to permanent posts in around 60 municipalities, ED sources said.
The businessman owned ABS Infozon, a company that was entrusted with barcoding and evaluating OMR sheets used in the selection tests for civic jobs. He has been accused of selling jobs of driver, cleaner and typist in municipalities. The ED is probing the alleged money trail in the case.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said the CBI’s search in municipalities was aimed at diverting attention from the train tragedy in Odisha's Balasore.
”Instead of probing the railway accident, CBI teams have started entering the urban development and municipal affairs office, municipalities. Will they now enter washrooms, too?” Mamata said while speaking at a programme to hand compensation money to the families of those injured in the train crash.
“Efforts are on to cover up such a big accident. Families who have lost their loved ones want to know how this accident happened?” she asked. “The days ahead will be terrible if there is any attempt at cover-up by checking the water supply and taps of municipalities.”
Senior CBI officials said the day’s search operation was aimed at collecting information about recruitments which were allegedly made with the help of Sil's agency.
Minister Hakim said the raids were aimed at creating an environment of terror, adding it is not possible for a minister to keep tabs on all recruitments across municipalities.
“I had found some irregularities in recruitment in Chinsurah (Municipality) and cancelled the list. The question is who will have the last word — police or people? This is entirely political,” Hakim said.
CBI officials said that soon after Calcutta High Court had ordered an investigation into alleged irregularities in recruitments in civic bodies, an FIR was drawn up in April. Wednesday's search was related to that case.
The files the sleuths collected were related to recruitments made in phases from 2014-15, officials said. The CBI officials spoke to the chairpersons and other officials of the municipalities as part of the investigation.
At Panihati Municipality in Sodepur, the team broke open an almirah after waiting for the keys, sources said.
Appeal in HC
Appearing for the state before a division bench headed by Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty of the high court on Wednesday, an advocate pleaded for an early hearing of the appeal for a stay on the order passed by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the court allowing the CBI and ED to probe the alleged irregularities in municipal recruitments. The bench said the matter will be heard at 10.30am on Thursday.