Bengal: Central agencies’ investigation into scams included raids, arrests and political controversies

Raids, recovery of cash, arrest of a cabinet minister and questioning of Trinamool Congress senior Abhishek Banerjee marked the probe by central agencies into multiple scams in West Bengal this year. However, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigations into alleged coal theft, cattle smuggling and school jobs scams in the state slowed down as both the agencies struggled to conclude investigations in the cases, of which Some were more than two years old. Their investigation revealed the names of several prominent leaders of the ruling TMC as well as businessmen and bureaucrats who allegedly had links with defunct shell companies that were used to siphon off money collected during the scams. A simultaneous investigation by both the federal agencies into the municipal jobs scam followed the order of the Calcutta High Court. In May, the CBI questioned TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in connection with alleged irregularities in school teacher recruitment and within 19 days, the ED summoned him in the same scam. Banerjee, considered the second-ranking leader in the party after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, had said in May that the CBI inquiry had turned up a “big void” and called it a “waste of time”. In June, Banerjee’s wife Rujira was stopped by ED officials at Kolkata’s Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport when she was about to fly to the UAE with their two children. The investigating agency summoned her and she appeared before its officials on June 8. In September, the ED had also summoned Abhishek Banerjee’s parents Amit and Lata for questioning in connection with the school jobs scam. The agency, which had questioned the two-time TMC MP from Diamond Harbor in 2021 and 2022 in connection with the coal theft scam, before summoning him for the second time in November, questioned him again in September in connection with the school jobs scam. Following the festivities in the state in October and November, both probe agencies stepped up activity and started simultaneous raids on the residences of TMC MLAs and councilors as well as chartered accountants with alleged links to school jobs and municipal recruitment scams. The ED unearthed huge sums of money while investigating the multi-crore ration distribution scam and arrested state forest minister Jyotipriya Mallik in October. Mallik’s arrest also exposed the operation of many fake companies in the state. He was the second West Bengal minister, after Partha Chatterjee, to be arrested for alleged involvement in corruption in recent years. The ED had arrested then Industries Minister Partha Chatterjee and his friend Arpita Mukherjee in connection with the school job scam in 2022. ED sleuths probing irregularities in recruitments in various municipalities arrested real-estate developer Ayan Sil in March. The central agency claimed that Rs 200 crore was collected from candidates for illegal appointments in civic bodies like Kanchrapara, New Barrackpore, Kamarhati, Titagarh, Baranagar, Halisahar, South Dum Dum, Dum Dum and Taki. The ED also arrested TMC MLAs Manik Bhattacharya and Kuntal Ghosh and Shantanu Bhattacharya, who allegedly had close links with the ruling party, in connection with the school jobs scam. It has filed at least five chargesheets under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in various scams. In October, the CBI conducted searches at the residences of Kolkata Mayor and the state urban development and municipal affairs minister, a prominent TMC figure, Firhad Hakim, and party MLA Madan Mitra as part of a probe into recruitment in the civic body. However, despite all their efforts to investigate the scams by conducting raids and making arrests, both agencies struggled to reach any conclusions in any of their investigations, with some of their investigations being almost two years old. In November 2020, the CBI had registered a case against six people for their alleged involvement in illegal mining and theft of coal from railway sidings and Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) leasehold areas. Incidentally, following the Supreme Court’s order on expeditious disposal of cases related to alleged irregularities in recruitments in secondary schools, the Supreme Court has directed the CBI to submit its final investigation report by January 9, 2024.