ED Scrutiny Widens: Kamarhati MLA Madan Mitra Under Lens in Recruitment Scam

Federal investigators conduct multi-location raids across Kolkata, linking the veteran Trinamool Congress leader to an ongoing municipal job probe.

The early hours of a Saturday morning have once again brought the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to the doorsteps of West Bengal’s political establishment. Federal agents fanned out across multiple locations in Kolkata today, marking a significant escalation in the investigation into the state's municipal recruitment scam. Among the primary focuses of this operation is Kamarhati MLA Madan Mitra, whose Bhowanipore residence is currently being searched.

The agency’s trail, which seems to have been rekindled following the recent interrogation of Ayan Sil, has led investigators far beyond the MLA's home. A team reached the ‘Jokar Abasan’ housing complex, a residential area where Madan Mitra reportedly frequented a specific flat about a decade ago. ED sources suggest this property is linked to the Trinamool leader, providing a fresh layer to the money trail they are attempting to piece together.

Simultaneously, the sweep has extended to other parts of the city. A businessman’s home in Beleghata was also raided as part of the same operation. While the agency has kept details of the specific documents seized under wraps, the synchronized nature of these searches indicates a strategic effort to correlate financial transactions unearthed during the questioning of key suspects in the recruitment case.

Why it matters

This latest action is not an isolated event but a continuation of the ED’s persistent pressure on state-level power structures. By connecting the dots from Ayan Sil’s testimonies to properties linked to Madan Mitra, the central agency is signaling that its investigation into the recruitment process is moving from secondary middlemen toward established political figures. For the Trinamool Congress, these raids create a persistent, high-stakes narrative challenge, keeping the party in a defensive position as elections loom on the horizon.

The political optics of the day are particularly fraught, with reports of police presence at the home of MP Abhishek Banerjee occurring alongside these ED searches. Whether these events signal a definitive breakthrough in the recruitment case or remain part of a longer legal attrition remains to be seen. For now, the focus remains on the evidence gathered from these locations, which will likely determine the next course of action in what has become a high-profile, long-running probe.