The Income Tax Department on Friday morning searched the premises of two ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders, including Debasish Kumar, who is contesting the West Bengal Assembly polls from Kolkata’s Rashbari constituency, sparking protests against alleged misuse of federal agencies ahead of the elections scheduled from April 23-29.
“Search operations are ongoing,” a police officer said, referring to Kumar’s residence on Padmapukur Road and his office in Motilal Nehru early on. The residence of another TMC leader, Kumar Saha, in south Kolkata was searched.
TMC workers staged a protest against the raids outside Kumar’s office and Saha’s residence. Kumar, one of the legislators in the outgoing assembly, is also a mayoral member of the Kolkata Municipal Council.
TMC spokesman Jai Prakash Majumdar questioned the timing of the raids. “The elections are coming. [Prime Minister Narendra] Moody and [Union home minister Amit] Shah had brought with them all the central agencies, ECI [Election Commission of India]And the central powers. “What they don’t have is the support of the people.”
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) last week questioned Kumar twice in a separate alleged land grabbing case. I have searched at least five websites associated with a leading real estate group in Kolkata and Salt Lake. The ED searched seven locations in the case overall.
Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rahul Sinha accused Kumar of receiving bribes in exchange for an illegal land deal. “The entire party is corrupt. Bengal wants the corrupt leaders to be behind bars. All they want is to catch thieves and fill the prisons,” he said. [TMC)iscorruptBengalwantscorruptleaderstobebehindbarsAlltheywantistocatchthievesandfillupthejails”hesaid
