ED raids 5 locations in Ballygunge, New Town

Following earlier investigations into recruitment corruption, Kolkata is now witnessing searches related to fresh allegations, this time concerning medical college admissions. Since Tuesday morning, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), accompanied by Central forces, has been conducting raids across multiple locations in the city as part of this new probe. ED sources have indicated that searches are underway at a total of five places.

One prominent location targeted early Tuesday morning was the residence of a lawyer situated at 6 Tarak Dutt Road, near the Karaya police station in Ballygunge. The house belongs to advocate Munmun Banerjee and her husband, Debashis Banerjee. ED officials arrived at the location to conduct their search as part of the investigation.

Simultaneously, another ED team descended upon the fourth floor of the CE 28 residence in New Town. This location reportedly housed a coaching center named 'Education World'. According to ED sources, this address is linked to Sourav Saha, who is alleged to have acted as a middleman in facilitating admissions under the NRI quota, the focus of the current investigation.

The central allegation revolves around corruption in the admission process for MBBS seats under the Non-Resident Indian (NRI) quota in private medical colleges. It is claimed that these reserved seats were effectively sold for substantial sums of money, facilitated by the use of fraudulent documents. This probe follows earlier actions where the ED had searched several institutions, including a medical college linked to former MP Laxman Seth.

The investigation was formally initiated based on a complaint filed at the Electronics Complex Police Station in Bidhannagar. The complaint detailed how seats reserved for genuine NRIs were allegedly being allocated to ineligible candidates using falsified certificates, often in exchange for significant financial payments.