THE Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday raided eight places in and around the city in connection with its probe into alleged irregularities in the School Service Commission (SSC) of West Bengal, a senior officer said. The officer said the raids, which started around 6.30 am, were still continuing. Searches were being conducted at the residences, offices and bungalows of those who allegedly “acted as middlemen” in the scam, he said. “These middlemen used to collect money and transfer it to various addresses. We are conducting raids at the residences and offices used by them,” the ED officer told PTI. Accompanied by a huge number of Central forces, the ED officers started search operations at New Town, Mukundapur and Nayabad on the eastern fringes of Kolkata, he said, adding that family members of the alleged middlemen were also questioned.

 

The officer said one of these “middlemen” was very close to former Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee and MLA Jibon Saha, both arrested in the same scam. “One of the middlemen has accumulated properties at over 400 places in the State and we are trying to find out the source of this money. Our officers are going through the bank documents and other property-related papers,” he said. The agency claimed that the name of another middleman has also cropped up during their probe and search operations are currently underway at his residence. Incidentally, the CBI, which is also probing the same scam, has also named this “middleman” as a key person in the scandal.