The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a chargesheet against former West Bengal minister Sujit Bose in connection with the alleged municipal recruitment scam.
The anti-money laundering agency has accused Bose of misappropriating around Rs 20 crore through illegal appointments in municipal bodies across the state.
The chargesheet, submitted before a special ED court on Thursday, also names Bose’s son Samudra Bose, senior bureaucrat Jyotishman Chattopadhyay, and two private companies as accused.
Chattopadhyay was serving as Director of the Directorate of Local Bodies under the Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Department during the period under investigation.
The ED claimed that Chattopadhyay abused his official position to facilitate the recruitment irregularities and derived financial benefits from the process.
The chargesheet mentioned that Sujit Bose allegedly recommended the names of 340 job aspirants in exchange for money. Among them, 284 candidates eventually received appointment letters.
The ED has claimed that an average of Rs 6 lakh was collected from each candidate, leading to an estimated illegal collection of over Rs 20 crore.
During searches at the residences of businessman Ayan Sil in Salt Lake and Hooghly, investigators recovered a large volume of documents related to municipal recruitments.
Subsequent questioning of Sil and the directors of his company, ABS Infrazone, revealed that the firm had been entrusted with conducting recruitment examinations for several municipalities in the state.
According to the agency, the company was responsible for preparing question papers, printing OMR sheets and handling other examination-related work.
During the searches, investigators also recovered documents relating to recommendation lists, including several papers marked with the initials “SB”, which the agency claims pointed towards Sujit Bose’s involvement.
As the investigation progressed, the ED allegedly uncovered large-scale irregularities in recruitments made by the South Dum Dum Municipality.
At the time of those appointments, Sujit Bose was serving as the municipality’s deputy chairman.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also launched a parallel probe and questioned the then chairman, municipal officials and other employees.
The ED said that it recovered documentary evidence relating to 40 recommendations allegedly made by Bose.
Investigators questioned Bose and members of his family on multiple occasions after searches allegedly revealed suspicious financial transactions involving several construction firms as well as a restaurant and dhaba owned by his son.
According to the ED, Bose and his son failed to satisfactorily explain how the restaurant recorded transactions worth several crores during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Following marathon questioning at the CGO Complex on May 11, shortly after the declaration of election results, the ED arrested Bose in the case.
The agency had earlier filed a chargesheet against Ayan Sil. In the latest proceedings, the ED submitted nearly 12,500 pages of documents before the special court in support of its allegations.