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Ghosh has been served with a notice to appear before investigators at the ED office in Salt Lake on May 25 for further questioning
KOLKATA
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) issued a fresh round of summons to Rathin Ghosh, the former West Bengal Food and Supplies Minister, for further interrogation regarding the multi-crore municipality recruitment scam.
Ghosh, a four-time Trinamool Congress (TMC) lawmaker representing the Madhyamgram Assembly constituency, has been ordered to report to the ED’s regional headquarters at the Central Government Office (CGO) Complex in Salt Lake by May 25. The deadline notably coincides with the official results announcement for the Falta Assembly constituency re-polling.
The senior TMC politician has skipped multiple summonses by the federal anti-money laundering agency over the past few months, repeatedly citing hectic election campaign commitments. He finally relented on May 15, enduring a grueling 10-hour interrogation session by central investigators. While entering the facility last week, Ghosh claimed he was completely unaware of why he was being targeted, though he remained tight-lipped upon his exit.
The investigation has recently intensified, with another heavyweight TMC figure, former State Fire Services Minister Sujit Bose currently in ED custody over the same cash for jobs racket. Bose recently suffered an electoral defeat in his native Bidhannagar constituency.
The multi-layered municipality recruitment scam was inadvertently uncovered by federal agents during a raid on the residence of a TMC-linked real estate promoter, Ayan Shil, who was initially being investigated for a separate school-jobs cash scam. Following a directive from the Calcutta High Court, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is currently running a parallel criminal probe into the civic body appointments, which continues to unearth a vast web of politically influential figures.
