Kolkata’s governor, Firhad Hakim, is a senior West Bengal minister and the minister of urban development and municipal affairs. On Sunday morning, the CBI searched Firhad Hakim’s Kolkata home as part of its investigation into alleged irregularities in recruitments made by the civic bodies in the state, according to officials. In connection with its investigation into alleged irregularities in recruitments made by civic bodies, the Central Bureau of Investigation conducted searches at 12 locations on Sunday, including at the homes of Firhad Hakim and Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra, according to officials.
What is the Bengal Recruitment Scam
In alignment with the Calcutta High Court’s orders, the case was filed against the director of a private company and unidentified others on April 21. The company is accused of receiving all contracts from different municipalities, district primary school councils, etc. for the hiring of Group C and Group D workers. Further allegations included that the company was in charge of all tasks, including creating the question supplies, printing and scanning the OMR sheets, and generating the final merit list.
The CBI claimed that a conspiracy had been formed between the director of a private company and other people in general, including public employees, and that the accused (who was in charge of printing, designing, and evaluating OMR sheets) had assisted in the illegal appointment of a number of deserving candidates in a number of municipalities in exchange for money which ended up being a scam in West Bengal.
CBI Probe
A search is being conducted at the south Kolkata home of West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim by the agents of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) due to alleged irregularities in civic body recruitments. Hakim is the Kolkata mayor as well as the portfolio holder for urban development and municipal affairs. In connection with the same case, the CBI is also conducting raids at the home of former TMC minister and Kamarhati MLA Madan Mitra in Bhawanipur.
A total of 12 locations, including Kolkata, Kanchrapara, Barrackpore, Halisahar, Dumdum, North Dum Dum, Krishnanagar, Taki, Kamarhati, Chetla, and Bhawanipur, among others, were searched by the CBI on Sunday as part of an ongoing investigation.
Hakim’s supporters gathered outside his home and started a protest as the searches got under way. The Food and Supplies Minister Rathin Ghosh’s home was among the locations searched by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday in connection with the investigation.
The state’s various civic organizations are accused by the central investigating agencies of illegally hiring about 1,500 people between 2014 and 2018 for financial gain.
The CBI took Firhad Hakim and Madan Mitra into custody, in connection with the Narada sting operation case in 2021. The CBI had previously arrested Mitra in 2014 in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam.
In connection with the same recruitment case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also searched properties on October 5, including Rathin Ghosh’s home as the Minister of Food and Supplies. The primary investigative agencies believe that between 2014 and 2018, more than 1,500 people were illegally hired by various civic organizations in the state, allegedly through financial transactions.
Political outrage due to the probe
In response to the allegations, the BJP spokesperson, Samik Bhattacharya, raised questions, asking why the TMC was apprehensive about the ED and CBI if they had nothing to conceal. He claimed that whenever TMC leaders were summoned by these agencies, they accused them of having political motivations, despite the fact that many TMC leaders faced allegations of corruption.
Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) asserted that extensive corruption had occurred in the recruitments conducted by the civic bodies and that the central agencies had intervened due to the failure of the state CID. Searches were conducted by the Enforcement Directorate at various locations, including the residence of Food and Supplies Minister Rathin Ghosh, in relation to the recruitment case.
Central investigating agencies alleged that approximately 1,500 individuals had been illicitly recruited by different civic bodies in the state between 2014 and 2018 in exchange for monetary considerations. The agency had taken over the case as per the orders of the Calcutta High Court. According to the spokesperson, it was alleged that all contracts related to various municipalities, district primary school councils, etc., for the recruitment of Group C and Group D employees had been awarded to a single company.
Furthermore, it was claimed that the said company had been entrusted with tasks such as setting up question papers, printing and scanning of OMR sheets, and preparation of the final merit list.
