The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday conducted searches at 20 locations across 14 municipalities in West Bengal in connection with alleged irregularities in municipal recruitment.
Several municipalities in the State’s North 24 Parganas district, including Dum Dum, Bidhannagar, Barrackpore and Halisahar, as well as Santipur in Nadia and Chinsurah in Hooghly were among the places where the CBI’s teams conducted searches during the day. Along with these municipalities, searches were conducted at the residence of Ayan Seal, an accused in the school job scam, who remains behind the bars. The Central investigation agency searched the office of State Municipal Affairs and Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim in the Salt Lake area. While investigating the school job scam, the investigators found evidence of irregularities in the municipalities in the State from the offices of Ayan Seal.
Calcutta High Court’s Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay directed the CBI to probe the irregularities in recruitment for municipalities on April 21. Later, Justice Amrita Sinha also upheld Justice Gangopadhyay’s order. The West Bengal Government is likely to approach the Supreme Court, challenging the order.
The raids by the CBI triggered strong political reactions from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leadership, including Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Ms. Banerjee quipped that the CBI had reached municipalities and will soon be looking into washrooms.
“Rather than investigating the train accident, CBI officers are in Bengal and are going to several municipalities and urban development areas to harass people. All those who are responsible for this accident, I want them to be punished,” the Chief Minister said.
Mr. Hakim also termed the raids “part of a conspiracy” hatched by the BJP. “There are reasons to believe that it is an act of revenge by the BJP, which has been using central agencies against its political opponents. We don’t believe that everyone is corrupt. It is as if the country is being run by Gabbar Singh,” the Minister told journalists
State BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said that the CBI is investigating the alleged job scam in municipalities on the direction of the Calcutta High Court. “Mr. Hakim is aware of the fact that sections of TMC workers are disgruntled for not getting jobs in local civic bodies, and they are happy with the court’s order and CBI searches,” Mr. Bhattacharya said.
The raids come at a time when the State’s ruling party is grappling with investigations into several scams, including the school job scam, the coal pilferage scam, and the cross border cattle smuggling scam.
