A team from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) searched the Madhyamgram house of Rathin Ghosh, Bengal’s food and civil supplies minister, on Thursday in connection with its probe into alleged irregularities in appointments in civic bodies across the state between 2014 and 2018.
Ghosh was chairman of Madhyamgram Municipality for several years till 2021, when he stepped down because of the Trinamul Congress’s one-man-one-post policy.
This is the first time a central investigating agency has questioned a cabinet minister in Bengal in connection with the case of alleged irregular appointments in civic bodies.
“The minister is cooperating with us,” said a senior ED official late in the evening when the raid was still on.
Ghosh could not be reached for comments till late on Thursday. Officials said documents related to properties and bank details were taken from the minister's house.
Other officials remained tight-lipped about the raids, which were carried out across Kolkata and North 24-Parganas.
Sources in the central agency, which is investigating the money trail related to the alleged illegal appointments in civic bodies, said Ghosh came under the scanner following the statements of Ayan Sil, a businessman who was arrested in March in connection with alleged irregularities in recruitments in government-aided schools.
Sil’s company, ABS Infozon, had received the contract to evaluate and put barcodes on OMR sheets that were used to conduct tests by the school service commission (SSC) and the state government for recruitments in schools and municipalities.
Officials said it appeared that Sil used the opportunity to collect money after promising jobs to candidates.
The ED has alleged that around 1,500 people were recruited by various civic bodies in the state, between 2014 and 2018, against payment.
ED teams, including senior officials, turned up at the residences of the chairpersons of several municipalities, including Kamarhati, Baranagar and South Dum Dum, all in North 24-Parganas.
A team raided the house of a state government official in Salt Lake's FC Block.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had in April, acting under Calcutta High Court’s instruction, registered an FIR for alleged corruption in recruitments in various municipalities.
The case was drawn up after the ED pointed out the alleged irregularities while probing complaints of corruption in the appointment of teachers in government-aided schools across the state.