Estimated Bengal municipalities recruitment scam is Rs 200 crore: ED

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), whose sleuths were the first to reveal the massive recruitment irregularities in different municipalities in West Bengal, has submitted a preliminary report to Calcutta High Court giving estimates of proceeds involved in the scam.

In the report, sources said, the estimated financial involvement in the scam that is the proceeds collected through illegal recruitments is around Rs 200 crore.

The ED has maintained that during the course of raid and search operations at the residence of private real estate promoter Ayan Shil in connection with the multi- crore teachers' recruitment scam, it came to know of the parallel scam in the municipalities.

In its report submitted to the court, the ED maintained that they have derived at the estimated scam amount to be around Rs 200 crore from the confessions made by Shil in face of interrogation on this count as well as from the contents of different paper and digital documents recovered from his residence.

The central probe body has also named a number of municipalities where the purported scam had taken place and the majority of these urban civic bodies are from the North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas districts.

Without naming anyone, the report mentioned about involvement of influential persons from the political and bureaucracy circles behind the scam, the sources said.

On Friday, the Calcutta High Court's single-judge bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct a separate probe on the municipalities recruitment scam.

While passing this direction, Justice Gangopadhyay said that, if necessary, the central agency can start its investigation by filing a separate FIR.

He also directed the CBI to submit a preliminary report in this matter on April 28.

"Also inform the court the number of additional investigating officers you need for this new line of probe," Justice Gangopadhay told the CBI.