Kolkata: Certain “codes” featured in the documents seized in the alleged municipalities’ recruitment scam case in West Bengal are the last hurdle to crack for the CBI and the ED officials to reach the root of the corruption.
Sources said that while already the investigating officials of both the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED), who are conducting parallel probes in the case, have been able to crack some, decoding more codes is yet to be done.
Once that decoding is achieved, said sources, a clear picture of the money trail in the alleged scam will be found which will ultimately lead to the principal beneficiaries.
The existence of such codes was first detected by the ED officials last year when they conducted raid and search operations at the residence of the private promoter Ayan Sil, also a co-accused in the multi-crore school job case in West Bengal and is currently under judicial custody.
At Sil’s residence, the Central agency officials secured a 28-page document that for the first time threw light on the municipalities’ job case.
Sources said that the same documents had some scribbling in “codes”. During the raid and search operations, the ED officials also accessed personal diary of Sil where similar codes were scribbled.
In the diary, there were also some details on what amounts were fixed for what category of jobs in these municipalities, the majority of which were in Kolkata-adjacent North 24 Parganas district.
The same codes also featured in subsequent documents seized by the Central agency officials in further courses of investigation.
Drawing an average financial involvement of Rs 5,00,000 behind each irregular recruitment, the Central agency sleuths believe that the total financial involvement in these municipalities’ job irregularities is around Rs 100 crore.
(IANS)
