ED searches residence of West Bengal minister Chandranath Sinha in school jobs case

Accompanied by a huge contingent of central forces, the ED team reached Sinha's residence around 9:15 am and began the search. Sinha, who holds the MSME and Textiles portfolios in the state government, was not in his residence at that time.

Kolkata: A team of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches at the residence of West Bengal minister Chandranath Sinha in Bolpur in Birbhum district on Friday in connection with its investigation into the alleged school recruitment scam, officials said.

Accompanied by a huge contingent of central forces, the ED team reached Sinha's residence around 9:15 am and began the search, they said.

Sinha, who holds the MSME and Textiles portfolios in the Mamata Banerjee government, was not in his residence at that time. He was at his ancestral house in Murarai, around 90 km away.

"The search is in connection with the investigation of the alleged irregularities in the school recruitment scam. The minister is not present at his residence, we are talking to his family," an officer said.

Sinha was earlier summoned by the CBI in the cattle and coal smuggling cases.

Meanwhile, the ED was also conducting simultaneous raids at the residences of a few businessmen in different parts of Kolkata, including Lake Town, Chetla and Ballygunge, in connection with the alleged recruitment scam, officials said.

"They were suspected to be helping in transferring funds illegally from India to other coutries. We are talking to them, and looking into some documents," the officer said.