Municipal recruitment case: Bengal minister yet to reach CBI office

Kolkata, Aug 31 Confusion gripped CBI's Nizam Palace office after West Bengal Fire Services Minister Sujit Bose, who was to appear before the probe officials in connection with the multi-crore municipal recruitment case, failed to show up well past the scheduled time of 11 a.m.

Last week, the probe agency had sent the notice to Bose asking him to be presented at the Nizam Palace office by 11 a.m. on August 31.

Bose had confirmed his presence saying he would be at the CBI office on scheduled time unless he gets tied up with a disaster-related pre-occupation as the fire services minister.

He has been summoned for questioning on his role in the recruitment process in Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) as an erstwhile deputy chairman of Dum Dum (South) municipality.

Bose, also the chief of a community Durga Puja in northern outskirts of Kolkata, is the first member of the West Bengal cabinet to be summoned by CBI in connection with the recruitment scam.

A political slugfest erupted after the notice was issued to Bose, with the ruling Trinamool Congress describing the move a "vendetta politics" of BJP and the Union government.

Refuting the allegations, the state BJP leadership said since the central agency probe on this count is court-monitored, there was no question of vendetta politics in the issue.

Notably, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths got access to document recruitment irregularities in different municipalities while conducting raid and search operations at the residence of private real estate promoter and an accused in the cash for school job case Ayan Sil.

The ED sleuths informed this to the bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of Calcutta High Court, who on April 21, 2023 directed the central agencies like CBI to conduct a probe in the matter.

Later, the same order was upheld first by Calcutta High Court’s single-judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha and subsequently by the apex court of the country.

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