The Enforcement Directorate on Monday arrested former West Bengal minister and Trinamool Congress leader Sujit Bose in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged municipality recruitment scam in the state, officials said.
The central agency took Sujit Bose (63) into custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after his day-long questioning at its CGO Complex office in Salt Lake in Kolkata, they said.
This was the first major arrest of a TMC leader since the Suvendu Adhikari-led BJP government took charge of the state's administration on Saturday.
Officials claimed the politician was "evasive" in his replies, often "inconsistent", and was hence arrested.
He will be produced before a special PMLA court here on Tuesday, where the ED will seek his custody for detailed interrogation, they said.
Accompanied by his son Samudra Bose, the former fire services department minister reached the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office around 10.30 am.
Till reports last received, the arrested leader and his son were still inside the CGO complex, facing agency questions, with over 11 hours having passed since their arrival.
Following information about Bose's arrest, Amalesh Roy, a lawyer accompanying Bose, said before leaving the CGO Complex, "I wasn't allowed entry inside the interrogation chamber. I will not be able to say what exactly transpired inside." Bose, ED sources said, was questioned in connection with the recruitment irregularities at the Dakshin Dum Dum municipality, which allegedly served as the venue for one of the biggest civic body recruitment scams in the state, where he previously served as vice chairman.
The civic body scam investigation in Bengal pertains to alleged irregularities in the recruitment of labourers, sweepers, clerks, peons, ambulance attendants, pump operators, helpers, sanitary assistants and drivers, etc, at several municipalities in the state, including South Dum Dum.
Sleuths said Bose is suspected to have played a direct role in providing jobs to about 150 employees across various categories in the municipality, recommending them for the positions, in lieu of pecuniary benefits.
The agency claimed it has traced "proceeds of crime" in the form of flats acquired by him in exchange for providing municipality jobs to various persons.
The ED has also traced cash deposits in the bank accounts "under the control" of Bose, as per ED officials.
Confronted with statements of the previously arrested scam suspects, bank transactions and other documents, Bose was unable to come up with satisfactory replies, agency sources said.
A three-time sitting MLA from Bidhannagar, Sujit Bose lost the recent Assembly elections against the BJP's Sharadwat Mukherjee by a margin of more than 37,000 votes.
The ED had raided the premises of the former fire and emergency services minister in October 2025.
A three-time sitting MLA from Bidhannagar, Bose lost the recent Assembly elections against the BJP's Sharadwat Mukherjee by a margin of more than 37,000 votes.
Establishments owned by Bose and his son were twice searched by the agency - apart from that of former food and civil supplies minister Rathin Ghosh, reelected from the adjacent Madhyamgram assembly seat - last year with investigators claiming to have recovered "incriminating" documents during the raids.
The money laundering probe stems from a CBI FIR filed on the directions of the Calcutta High Court. The agency had issued multiple summons for questioning to Bose when the assembly polls campaign was going on.
He had then moved the Calcutta High Court seeking exemption from appearance, citing election campaign commitments.
After the polls, Bose appeared before ED investigators at the CGO Complex on May 1.
The ED earlier had said that it got a head up on alleged civic body recruitment irregularities while it was conducting searches in the West Bengal Teacher's recruitment "scam" case in 2023.
The documents were recovered from the premises of Ayan Sil, director of a company named ABS Infozon.
This company was responsible for the printing of question papers, OMR sheets amd evaluation of marks obtained by the candidates and preparation of the merit list, etc., for various municipal corporations of the state.
"Ayan Sil and other high functionaries, including public servants and political leaders, hatched a criminal conspiracy among themselves, including other private persons," the ED had said in a statement issued in October last year.
"In pursuance of that conspiracy, Sil abused his power and position and resorted to manipulation of OMR sheets of the candidates and facilitated the illegal appointments of several unmeritorious candidates in several municipalities in lieu of money," the ED had said.
The other municipalities under agency scanner included those in Kanchrapara, New Barrackpore, Kamarhati, Titagarh, Baranagar, Halisahar, South Dum Dum and Dum Dum, as per the ED.
The agency has filed a charge sheet against Sil and some others.
"Let the law take its own course. The party has no business interfering in the probe. If he is innocent, he should walk free. If he isn't, he will be punished in accordance with law," Debjit Sarkar, BJP spokesperson, said, responding to the arrest.
CPI (M) leader Sujan Chakraborty claimed Bose was a "small fry" compared to the "real beneficiaries" of the scam in the TMC party.
"People of Bengal voted to reject the TMC because its theft of public money and institutional corruption became glaring. The agency should now look at the top leaders of the party who were the real beneficiaries," he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
