ED Raids in West Bengal

Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted marathon raids and searches at six locations in West Bengal on Tuesday to probe allegations of misappropriation of central funds for the 100-day job guarantee under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (MGNREGS) for the first time. 

The six locations, where the raid began from 7 am, included a businessman Sandeep Sadhukhan’s residence at Chinsurah in Hooghly, an expelled gram panchayat employee Rathin Dey’s house at Berhampore in Murshidabad, a government official's quarters in Jhargram and a former block development officer (BDO) SK Pan’s home at Salt Lake in Kolkata.

All the five individuals were questioned also. According to sources, Mr Dey allegedly produced fake job cards and created bogus bank accounts and transferred Rs 17,07,450 to his sister Eti Chatterjee 's bank account. Former Beldanga I BDO Birupakhsa Mitra earlier lodged an FIR agsinst him at Beldanga



police station under sections 420, 406, 409 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code in 2019. Later Mr Dey was suspended while his brothers and sisters were arrested by the police for misappropriation of funds. 

The ED’s action came three days after chief minister Mamata Banerjee pledged during a two-day dharna in the city on the issue to pay the dues of 21 lakh MGNREGS workers through direct bank transfer mode on February 21.

Reacting strongly to the central agency's raids, state industries minister Shashi Panja alleged, “Try to understand the chronology. On Monday leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari met BJP leaders in New Delhi. He later predicted something bad going to happen in Bengal. BJP has deprived 2.1 million MGNREGS workers of their wages. Ever since the CM announced to pay the 100-day job workers their rightful dues, BJP has been more active with its political vendetta.”