Kolkata, Oct 09: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) continued its raids in West Bengal as part of an ongoing probe into alleged irregularities in municipal recruitments. This operation entered its second day, with CBI officials conducting searches at various locations, including the residence of BJP MLA Partha Sarathi Chatterjee in Ranaghat and several other places in Nadia, Uluberia, and Diamond Harbour.
Partha Sarathi Chatterjee, a former chairperson of Ranaghat municipality and BJP MLA, had his residence searched by a CBI team that arrived at his house at 9.45 am. Additionally, another CBI team conducted a raid at the residence of Meera Haldar, the former mayor of Diamond Harbour, which is also the constituency of TMC’s national general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee.
The probe focuses on allegations of widespread corruption in the appointments made within the Diamond Harbour municipal council in 2016. It has been revealed that these appointments were made through a private company owned by Ayan Sheel, who has already been arrested in connection with the recruitment corruption case. Meera Haldar served as the chairperson of the municipality during that period, and the CBI team was in search of documents related to these appointments.
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On the preceding day, the CBI conducted searches at approximately 12 locations across West Bengal, including Kolkata, Kanchrapara, Barrackpore, Halisahar, Dumdum, North Dum Dum, Krishnanagar, Taki, Kamarhati, Chetla, and Bhawanipur. These locations included the residences of senior TMC leader and state minister Firhad Hakim and TMC MLA Madan Mitra.
The case stems from allegations against the director of a private company and unidentified individuals. The case was registered based on the orders of the Calcutta High Court issued on April 21. It was alleged that all contracts related to various municipalities and district primary school councils for the recruitment of Group C and Group D employees were awarded to this particular company.
The firm was entrusted with various responsibilities, including setting up question papers, printing and scanning OMR sheets and preparing the final merit list, according to the allegations. The CBI’s ongoing investigation is aimed at uncovering the truth behind these alleged irregularities in municipal recruitments.
