‘It’s BJP’s ploy to divert attention from train mishap’
KOLKATA: With the CBI launching raids at the offices of several municipal bodies in Bengal as part of its probe into an alleged recruitment scam, Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee said this was an “effort to divert attention from the Balasore train accident case and suppress the truth”.
The CBI sleuths raided at least 15 locations in the state, including the office of the UDMA department. Search operations were conducted at the offices of different municipalities in North 24-Parganas, Hooghly and Nadia districts. Another CBI team raided the residence of private real estate promoter Ayan Sil, who is currently in judicial custody for his alleged involvement in the scam.
In the wake of this development, Banerjee, who was on Wednesday handing over cheques to the Bengal victims of the train accident, said that the probe into this horrific accident did not even start but the
CBI teams were promptly sent to Bengal by Delhi (Centre). “CBI teams raided at least 14 to 16 municipal bodies, including the UDMA department of the state government. Will the CBI be now sent into the washrooms for a search operation? That is probably the only place left where they haven’t raided yet. All these stunts will not help put a lid on the truth about the Balasore train accident. The families of the deceased are still looking for justice. You can’t bury the truth,” Banerjee said.
Minister Firhad Hakim called the raids a political stunt by the Centre. He said that it seems such aggressive raids are to spread terror but the last word will be of the people. “Just as how everyone is not involved in the alleged irregularity in recruitment in the education sector, similarly, here too, the ones who have carried out illegal acts will be punished. Those that haven’t done anything should have no reason for worry,” Hakim said.
Asked if he had any knowledge of the alleged illegal recruitments made in these municipal bodies concerned, he said he had only observed “irregularities in recruitment in the Chinsurah municipality and took immediate steps to nullify the recruitments”.