KOLKATA: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday conducted searches at 15 locations across the country in connection with a fake government job scam allegedly run by an organised gang that duped people by promising jobs, officials said.
Amid the raids, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee arrived at the residence of Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) chief Prateek Jain, where ED teams were present. The searches also triggered a sharp political reaction from the Trinamool Congress (TMC), which accused the central agency of acting at the behest of the Union government.
Speaking to reporters, Banerjee alleged misuse of central agencies for political purposes and directly targeted Union home minister Amit Shah.
“Is it the duty of the ED, Amit Shah, to collect the party’s hard disk, candidate list?” she asked.
“The nasty, naughty home minister who cannot protect the country is taking away all my party documents. What will be the result if I raid the BJP party office?” Banerjee said.
She further linked the ED action to the upcoming elections in the state.
“On one side, they are deleting the names of voters by carrying out the SIR in West Bengal. Because of the elections, they are collecting all the information about my party,” the chief minister alleged.
Calling the raids “unfortunate”, Banerjee said, “This is most unfortunate that ED raided the house of TMC’s IT head.” Questioning the role of the Union government, she added, “Is this the job of the Union home minister to raid homes of IT chiefs of political parties? This is not law enforcement, it is political vendetta.”
The ED, meanwhile, maintained that the searches were part of an ongoing probe into the fake job racket and were being conducted based on material evidence.
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