Kolkata, July 21 (IANS) Various teams of Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials, accompanied by personnel from the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), were carrying out raids and search operations at eight sites in West Bengal as part of an ongoing investigation into a case involving financial corruption and forgery.
Sources aware of the developments said the main charge in the case is that large amounts of money were collected from people on the pretext of providing them with benefits under different Central and state government-sponsored welfare schemes.
The sources added that about Rs 165 crore was allegedly collected from around 20,000 individuals in this manner. Later, a complaint was filed with the Enforcement Directorate, following which the ED officials, the investigation arm of the Union Finance Ministry, decided to take action.
However, the officials of the Central agency refused to divulge further details in the matter.
It is learnt that the eight locations where simultaneous raids and search operations were conducted are in Kolkata and Bangaon sub-division in North 24 Parganas district. Of these eight locations, four are in Kolkata, and the remaining four are in Bangaon.
At Bangaon, raids and search operations were conducted at the residence of a local Trinamool Congress leader, Avijit Biswas, who is believed to be the mastermind in this particular corruption-cum-forgery case.
However, when the ED officials reached Biswas’s residence at Bangaon this morning, he was not there. His family members said that Biswas mostly stays out of Bangaon and rarely comes home. This particular statement from the family members was corroborated by the neighbours.
The new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in West Bengal led by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has taken a strong stand on matters concerning corruption since the beginning.
The recently enacted West Bengal Public Safety & Control of Anti-Social Activities Act, 2026, has strong provisions for dealing with acts of corruption.
The said Act empowers the state government to confiscate the property of a person involved in such an offence by invoking the appropriate provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.
–IANS
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