Kolkata, April 22 (IANS). The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday issued notices to two West Bengal Cabinet members, state Fire Services Minister Sujit Bose and state Food and Supplies Minister Rathin Ghosh, for questioning in connection with the multi-crore municipal recruitment scam in the state.
Both Bose and Ghosh were asked to appear before the ED office at the Central Government Office (CGO) complex in Salt Lake on the northern outskirts of Kolkata on April 24.
Incidentally, both Bose and Ghosh are contesting as Trinamool Congress candidates from their home constituencies, Bidhannagar and Madhyamgram. Both these areas fall in North 24 Parganas district, where voting will be held on April 29 in the second phase of the two-phase assembly elections in West Bengal.
This is not the first time that ED has summoned West Bengal cabinet members for questioning in a matter related to recruitment in municipalities. In fact, both Bose and Ghosh have previously been questioned by officials of the central agency in this case.
Rathin Ghosh was last questioned by ED officials in January 2024 in a case related to employment in municipalities. Similarly, Sujit Bose was also questioned by the central agency earlier in October 2025 in the same case.
At that time, ED officials had conducted lengthy raids and search operations at different offices as well as at Sujit Bose’s house. Similar raids and search operations were also conducted at the homes and locations of some of Sujit Bose’s close associates.
ED officials first got information about this case involving crores of rupees related to jobs in municipalities when they were conducting a raid and search operation at the house of Trinamool Congress-linked promoter Ayan Sheel in another money laundering case related to the ‘cash for school jobs’ scam in West Bengal.
Later, following the order of the Calcutta High Court, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also started a parallel investigation in the case related to jobs in municipalities. As officials of both the central agencies took the investigation process forward, names of several politically influential people, including state ministers and ruling party leaders, emerged during the investigation.
–IANS
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