ED raids 3 TMC leaders homes in municipal job scam; Minister, MLA, councillor grilled

Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted a marathon raid and search at the residences of three Trinamul Congress leaders including a cabinet colleague of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and an MLA under a tight security cover by the central forces on Friday in the municipal jobs scam.

The trio were state fire and emergency services minister and Bidhannagar MLA Sujit Bose, Baranagar legislator and TMC deputy chief whip in the Assembly Tapas Roy, and TMC councilor of ward number 19 and former chairman of North Dum Dum Municipality Subodh Chakraborty.

All of them were at home when the ED launched the raid at 7 am. While one team turned up at the two houses of Mr. Bose near Sreebhumi Club, of which he is also the main patron, in Lake Town, another team visited Mr. Roy's house at BB Ganguly Street in Bowbazar with the third one at Mr. Chakraborty's address at Khalisakota in Birati of North 24 Parganas.

In all locations, the CRPF troopers, who escorted the ED teams, looked well prepared with helmets, riot protection gear, tear gas batteries, and sticks apart from their service weapons to tackle any mob attack that they had faced a week ago during raids on two TMC leaders’ houses in North 24 Parganas.

They surrounded the houses and kept common people at bay as the ED officers questioned the three TMC leaders inside. Police also reached there and deployed its personnel. In the afternoon the ED took Mr Bose's son, Samudra, from his family address to a nearby flat for a search.

The central agency’s raid at the houses of Mr Roy and Mr Chakraborty house ended after 12 hours. In the evening the TMC MLA claimed himself innocent. “Finding nothing, ED seized some papers and my cell phone. Since I am a political person, the purpose of the raid was political also,” he alleged. The raid ended at Mr Bose's houses after 14 hours.

Meanwhile, the police arrested two villagers, Mehbur Mollah and Sukomol Sardar, of Sarberia for their link in an attack on the ED team for raiding at absconding TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh in Sandeshkhali of North 24 Parganas. They were remanded in three days’ police custody by a district court.

Later Governor CV Ananda Bose asserted that he was convinced with three state government officials’ explanation about the delay in police action in the attack. He however kept the reason “confidential” due to the ongoing investigation.