West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today criticised the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for its “overzealous” actions in raiding multiple municipal bodies in the state as part of its investigation into corruption in job appointments. The CBI probe into alleged irregular appointments in municipal bodies was ordered by the Calcutta High Court in April after the Enforcement Directorate highlighted the issue while investigating a separate probe into irregular appointments of school teachers.
“The CBI raids on municipal bodies are an attempt to divert attention from the railway accident,” the Chief Minister alleged. She made her comments at a programme organised to distribute compensation checks to the families of those who had died in the railway accident in Odisha on 2 June.
Investigators of the central agency, with CISF escorts, started search operations this morning in 14 municipalities, including North Dum Dum, Salt Lake, New Barrackpur, Panihati, Kanchrapara, Chinsurah, Santipur, and Taki.
The CBI teams also raided the offices of the State Urban Development Department in the Salt Lake area. Allegations of cash-for-jobs had surfaced over the appointments of personnel in these civic bodies under the State Urban Development Department, for which the search operations were taking place. Reacting to the CBI raids, State Municipal Affairs and Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim said this is “part of a conspiracy” hatched by the BJP.
BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said that the CBI was investigating the job scam in municipalities on the direction of the Calcutta High Court, and thus, the TMC’s claim about conspiracy was “baseless”.
The central investigative agency has also filed a case against one Ayan Sil and his company, ABS Infozone Private Limited, for allegedly manipulating the scores of aspirants who had applied for jobs. The company was involved in the printing and evaluation of OMR sheets for scores of civic bodies in West Bengal. Sil is already in custody after his involvement in cash-for-jobs in the education sector came to light.
The cash-for-jobs scam has been a flashpoint between the TMC-led state government and the opposition BJP. While the CBI is investigating the criminal aspect of the scam, the ED is looking into the money trail to unearth alleged irregularities in school recruitment.
