Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday said it had seized Rs 45 lakh during raids conducted at 13 locations in and around Kolkata in connection with the alleged municipal recruitment irregularities.
The searches included the office and restaurant of state Fire and Emergency Services minister Sujit Bose.
The Central agency, in a statement posted on its official X handle, said: “ED, Kolkata Zonal Office has conducted a search operation at 13 places on 10.10.2025 in and around Kolkata in the Municipality Recruitment Scam of West Bengal. The premises covered during the search include the office of Sujit Bose, MLA and Minister of Fire & Emergency Services, West Bengal, and that of his firms, among others. During the searches, various incriminating documents including property documents, digital devices and unexplained cash amounting to Rs 45 lakh have been seized.”
The agency, however, did not specify the exact locations from where the cash was recovered.
On Friday, ED officials had searched the restaurant of Bose’s son, the residences of South Dum Dum Municipality vice-chairman Netai Dutta, a chartered accountant, a businessman, and several other premises. Following the operation, Bose described the raids as “politically motivated” and alleged that the central agency was being misused to pressurise the Trinamool Congress ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
This is not the first time the minister’s properties have come under ED scrutiny. On January 12, 2024, the agency had searched two of Bose’s residences and his Lake Town office in connection with the same case. That operation lasted around 12 hours, during which officials seized several documents and Bose’s mobile phone.
The probe into municipal recruitment irregularities began after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) uncovered documents linked to the issue while investigating the School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam. During a raid at the office of Ayan Sil, the CBI reportedly found papers suggesting large-scale irregularities in municipal hiring. Based on those findings, the CBI filed an FIR and initiated a separate investigation on the direction of the Calcutta High Court.