ED summons Madan Mitra's wife and sons in municipal jobs scam case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued summons to the wife and two sons of Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Madan Mitra, demanding their presence for questioning next week in connection with the ongoing West Bengal municipal recruitment scam investigation. Officials from the central anti-money laundering agency suspect that the MLA's immediate family members may have been involved in crucial financial transactions tied to the alleged recruitment racket. Investigators are probing allegations that Mitra facilitated illegal appointments across multiple municipal bodies in exchange for bribes paid in cash and gold. The agency believes that these payments were not received directly by the MLA but were instead routed through close intermediaries.

A central focus of the federal investigation remains a personal diary recovered from promoter Ayan Sil, who was arrested by the agency on March 20, 2023, for his role as a middleman in the scam. The agency is actively scrutinizing the diary to determine if the written initials "MM" directly correspond to Madan Mitra. Sil’s firm, ABS Infozone Private Limited, is accused of illegally managing the hiring processes for at least seven municipal bodies, including Kamarhati Municipality. The agency alleges that the company engaged in manipulating OMR sheets, evaluation parameters, and candidate interviews to push undeserving individuals into municipal roles like Group-D staff and typists in exchange for illicit payouts.

The latest summonses follow major coordinated raids conducted by the ED in June, which targeted seven locations linked to the TMC MLA. Investigators are currently reviewing more than 125 suspicious municipal appointments to verify whether mandated recruitment protocols were completely bypassed. The widening money-laundering investigation centers on the systemic sale of civic body jobs across the state rather than carrying out merit-based appointments. The high-profile municipal scam probe has already led to strict actions, including the arrest of former West Bengal minister Sujit Bose in May.