Minister Sujit Bose's son endures 12-hours ED interrogation on muncipal recruitment corruption

In a major escalation of municipal recruitment corruption probe, Samudra Bose, son of Bengal Fire Services Minister Sujit Bose, finally faces the heat of a 12-hours long interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at Saltlake CGO Complex office after arriving with stacks of documents yesterday. The central agency, digging deep into alleged irregularities in civic body hirings that allegedly netted crores in bribes, had twice summoned Samudra before—once last Thursday, which he skipped citing personal commitments, and rescheduled. As per reports, Samudra Bose left ED's office around 10:30 pm yesterday.

The marathon interrogation zeroed in on funding trails to family-linked businesses, including his Golahat area's dhaba and other ventures, to check if scam proceeds were laundered through them, leaving the young entrepreneur exhausted but tight-lipped on details. Reportedly, ED's net has widened since January 2024, when raids first hit Sujit Bose's two homes in Laketown areas, seizing documents and even the minister's phone amid suspicions of his role in the Purba Medinipur-linked scam. Recently this year's October raids targeted Sujit Bose's Saltlake office, Samudra's restaurant, and the home of his aide Nitai Dutta, Vice-Chairman of South Dumdum Municipality, unearthing what officials called "incriminating papers" on shady fund flows.

While Sujit's daughter Mohini appeared last week with her husband—who runs family-tied businesses—for questioning on similar lines, his wife dodged the Wednesday summons, prompting the minister to defend his family publicly, insisting they're not fugitives and will cooperate fully. As the ED probe barrels ahead with more summons likely, the Bose family finds itself at the epicenter of a political storm, with the Trinamool Congress brushing off the ED moves as pre-election harassment by the Centre. Sujit himself has called past raids routine nonsense, but the relentless scrutiny underscores the scam's sprawling reach, implicating over a dozen municipalities and raising questions about accountability in Bengal's job-for-cash racket that cheated thousands of genuine aspirants.