The CBI on Sunday conducted searches at the residences of senior West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim and TMC MLA Madan Mitra in connection with alleged civil municipal bodies recruitment scam. The raids were conducted at 12 locations, including Kolkata, Kanchrapara, Barrackpore, Halisahar, Dumdum, North Dum Dum, Krishnanagar, Taki, Kamarhati, Chetla and Bhowanipore.
Hakim is the state minister urban development and municipal affairs and the mayor of Kolkata. Mitra is an MLA from Kamarhati.
A team of CBI officers reached his residence in south Kolkata's Chetla area along with a large contingent of central forces in the morning. "Two CBI officers are questioning him," a senior official said. As the searches began, Hakim's supporters gathered outside his house and began a protest.
The CBI team also searched the residence of Mitra in North 24 Parganas district. "The investigations have revealed that Mitra had a specific role in the recruitments made in Kamarhati Municipality," PTI quoted the official as saying.
The houses of the former chairman of Kanchrapara Municipality Sudama Roy, ex-chairman of Halisahar Municipality Angshuman Roy and Krishnanagar Municipality's former chief Ashim Ghosh were also searched.
As per the CBI chargesheet, all contracts about various municipalities, District Primary School Councils and others for the recruitment of Group C and Group D employees were given to the private company. The firm was also entrusted with the tasks like setting up question papers, printing and scanning OMR sheets and preparation of the final merit list.
The chargesheet said that the company director and other public servants hatched a conspiracy among themselves, in pursuant of which the accused responsible for the printing, designing and evaluation of OMR sheets allegedly facilitated the illegal appointments of several unmeritorious candidates in several municipalities in lieu of money.
TMC response
The TMC hit out at the centre for the raids, calling it a desperate attempt to divert attention from its ongoing demonstration outside the Raj Bhavan over demands for central funds. "This is an attempt to divert the public's attention from the ongoing protest outside Raj Bhavan led by Abhishek Banerjee. The BJP appears to be sensing a growing public discontent, and they are using every means at their disposal to change the narrative. This is a clear example of vendetta politics," senior TMC MP Sougata Roy charged.
Rejecting the allegations, BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said, "If the TMC has nothing to hide, why are they afraid of ED and CBI?" "Whenever TMC leaders are summoned by the ED or CBI, they cry foul and accuse the agencies of being politically motivated. Yet, the reality is that the TMC is deeply mired in corruption with nearly every leader facing some allegation or the other," he claimed.
The CPI(M) alleged that large-scale corruption happened in the recruitments made by the civic bodies. "The central agencies stepped in as the state CID failed," CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty claimed.
Both Hakim and Mitra were arrested by the CBI in 2021 in the Narada sting operation case. Mitra was also arrested by the CBI in 2014 in the Saradha chit fund scam.
(With PTI inputs)
