“Where is the guarantee that ED isn’t planting money or explosives”; Mamata Banerjee calls raids by ED in Bengal illegal and driven by political vendetta.

“The raids happening in Bengal are illegal and driven by a political vendetta”, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee lashed out at central agencies. This comes hours after Enforcement Directorate raided 4 different locations on Monday in connection with the ongoing “recruitment scam” probe. ED teams raided several places in Kolkata and South 24 Parganas on Monday to track the alleged money trail linking accused Sujay Krishna Bhadra and the ongoing probe. Bhadra has been arrested by the agency on May 30 and is suspected to “have handled the business interest from several recruitment drives”, claim agency sources. Out of all the places raided, one was an office called Leaps and Bounds in New Alipore in Kolkata. A charge sheet against Bhadra, who is currently in judicial custody, was filed by the ED on July 28. ED raids lasted for over 18 hours and were carried out at places including an upscale housing property in the heart of Kolkata where Bhadra allegedly owned an apartment; ED officials also went to a packaged drinking water plant in the Bishnupur area of South 24 Parganas. ED sources say they have seized documents and digital material during their raids. Sujoy Krishna Bhadra was a director of the company Leaps and Bounds and he and later became the chief operating officer there. ED in its chargesheet against Bhadra has claimed they have come across three suspicious financial transactions amounting to Rs 95 lakh between Leaps and Bounds company and another private company named SD Consultancy which was founded by Bhadra.

“You are forcefully going inside offices at times and then asking the person whoever is there to leave. You are not keeping any witness there. And if we have to imagine, where is the guarantee that you are not doing anything wrong inside the property? Where is the guarantee that you are not planting money, arms, or an explosive inside? This is illegal, you are not informing anyone. The Prime Minister is going abroad and talking about inclusivity but in back home they are treating us worse than ants” said West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee while clarifying the rumours that no agency person went to Harish Chatterjee Street, where she herself lives, indicatively talking of no visit of any agency at her residence.

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition by the Bengal government challenging the Calcutta High Court’s order allowing CBI and ED to probe alleged recruitment scam in Bengal’s civic bodies. Ed maintains that there could money trail between the ongoing teacher recruitment probe and the civic bodies. The raids on Monday by ED followed soon after the Supreme Court clearance.