NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate on Friday launched fresh raids on Trinamool leaders at 3 places in West Bengal escalating the war of words between the ruling party and the opposition BJP. The ED sleuths accompanied by personnel of the central armed police forces are conducting raids since morning at the residences of West Bengal fire services minister Sujit Bose, veteran Trinamool Congress legislator Tapas Roy, and a ruling party councilor of North Dum Dum Municipality in North 24 Parganas district, Subodh Chakraborty. All these raids, sources said, were in connection with the cash-for-municipalities job case in the state.
Trinamool Congress reacted strongly to the fresh raids and accused the BJP of using central probe agencies for political vendetta. The state commerce & industries, women & child development and social welfare minister Dr Sashi Panja said “The people of West Bengal know how BJP and the Union government are unleashing the central agencies solely with the intention of political vendetta.”
The BJP claimed that the ED sleuths were operating on the basis of specific information. Leader of opposition in West Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari advised the ruling party leaders at whose residences the raids were conducted to start packing their bags with ample woolen garments.
“The ED will raid the house of thieves. The state fire services minister Sujit Basu was directly involved in the recruitment irregularities in Dum Dum (South) as the erstwhile deputy chairman of the urban civic body. This I have said before also and I am saying it again now,” he said.
‘ED raids prompted by code words found in diary’
The ED raids were prompted by some code words mentioned in the personal diary of an arrested middleman. According to informed sources, the crucial evidence was discovered while ED officials had raided the residence of arrested middleman Ayan Sil last year in connection with the multi-crore cash-for-school-job case. The evidence included Sil’s personal diary where several initials and code words were inscribed against certain numbers, which the probe agency believed were portions of alleged scam proceeds paid as commissions.
Two specific code names — SB and Tapas da — caught the attention of the ED officials, which prompted the fresh raids on Friday. The diary also contained some other details, including the amounts were fixed for what category of jobs in these municipalities, majority of which were in North 24 Parganas district.
Taking a lesson from the incident of attack on ED and CAPF personnel at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal during a similar raid and search operations on January 5, the CAPF personnel escorting the ED teams took special safety precautions on Friday.
All the CAPF personnel were sporting metal helmets and were armed with cane-shields in case of repetition of any Sandeshkhali-type attack on them as well as the ED sleuths.
Two arrested in connection with attack on ED officials
The West Bengal police arrested two people in connection with the attack on an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team during a raid at the house of TMC leader Shajahan Seikh in Sandeshkhali last week.
Those arrested were identified as Mehaboob Mollah and Sukomal Sardar, the police said. “Based on various video footage, today we have arrested the two persons,” Basirhat SP Joby Thomas told PTI. The duo were produced before a court, which sent them to police custody for three days.
(With inputs from agencies)
Trinamool Congress reacted strongly to the fresh raids and accused the BJP of using central probe agencies for political vendetta. The state commerce & industries, women & child development and social welfare minister Dr Sashi Panja said “The people of West Bengal know how BJP and the Union government are unleashing the central agencies solely with the intention of political vendetta.”
The BJP claimed that the ED sleuths were operating on the basis of specific information. Leader of opposition in West Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari advised the ruling party leaders at whose residences the raids were conducted to start packing their bags with ample woolen garments.
“The ED will raid the house of thieves. The state fire services minister Sujit Basu was directly involved in the recruitment irregularities in Dum Dum (South) as the erstwhile deputy chairman of the urban civic body. This I have said before also and I am saying it again now,” he said.
‘ED raids prompted by code words found in diary’
The ED raids were prompted by some code words mentioned in the personal diary of an arrested middleman. According to informed sources, the crucial evidence was discovered while ED officials had raided the residence of arrested middleman Ayan Sil last year in connection with the multi-crore cash-for-school-job case. The evidence included Sil’s personal diary where several initials and code words were inscribed against certain numbers, which the probe agency believed were portions of alleged scam proceeds paid as commissions.
Two specific code names — SB and Tapas da — caught the attention of the ED officials, which prompted the fresh raids on Friday. The diary also contained some other details, including the amounts were fixed for what category of jobs in these municipalities, majority of which were in North 24 Parganas district.
Taking a lesson from the incident of attack on ED and CAPF personnel at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal during a similar raid and search operations on January 5, the CAPF personnel escorting the ED teams took special safety precautions on Friday.
All the CAPF personnel were sporting metal helmets and were armed with cane-shields in case of repetition of any Sandeshkhali-type attack on them as well as the ED sleuths.
Two arrested in connection with attack on ED officials
The West Bengal police arrested two people in connection with the attack on an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team during a raid at the house of TMC leader Shajahan Seikh in Sandeshkhali last week.
Those arrested were identified as Mehaboob Mollah and Sukomal Sardar, the police said. “Based on various video footage, today we have arrested the two persons,” Basirhat SP Joby Thomas told PTI. The duo were produced before a court, which sent them to police custody for three days.
(With inputs from agencies)