Kolkata, May 28 (IANS) Former West Bengal Fire Services Minister Sujit Bose on Thursday approached a single-judge vacation bench of the Calcutta High Court challenging his arrest earlier this month by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the multi-crore municipalities recruitment scam in the state.

The matter is scheduled to come up for hearing on Friday before the single-judge vacation bench of Justice Shampa Dutta Paul.

A three-time Trinamool Congress legislator from the Bidhannagar Assembly constituency in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, Bose was defeated in the recently concluded Assembly elections.

He was arrested by ED officials after a marathon interrogation lasting around 10 hours on the night of May 11, seven days after the Assembly election results were declared on May 4.

On Thursday, his counsel moved a petition challenging the arrest and the petition was admitted by the court. Friday has been fixed for the first hearing in the matter.

The ED had interrogated Bose several times before finally arresting him on the night of May 11.

He had been summoned several times before the state Assembly elections. However, Bose avoided appearing before the ED, citing his busy election campaign schedule.

He appeared twice before the ED after the results were declared and was arrested following his second appearance on May 11.

He is currently in ED custody.

The main allegation against him is that he recommended ineligible candidates for recruitment to various posts in the South Dum Dum Municipality in North 24 Parganas in exchange for cash.

According to ED investigators, Bose earned hefty amounts by allegedly recommending as many as 150 ineligible candidates.

Before his arrest, ED officials had also conducted raids and search operations at Bose’s offices and residence.

The agency also examined the bank accounts of the former minister and his family members and traced allegedly fictitious transactions.

ED officials also claimed that a restaurant owned by Bose earned crores of rupees during its shutdown period in the Covid-19 lockdown phase in 2020, when operations at the outlet were completely closed.

ED counsel also informed a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Kolkata that besides Rs 1.1 crore being transferred to the restaurant’s account during the lockdown period, another Rs 2.2 crore was transferred to Bose’s personal account.

–IANS

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