CBI teams on Monday questioned former chairpersons of several municipalities, including BJP MLA Partha Sarathi Chatterjee, as part of the probe into alleged irregularities in recruitments in civic bodies.
This was the first time the central agency questioned a BJP leader in Bengal in connection with the alleged irregularities.
The move came within 24 hours of the CBI's search at the homes of Firhad Hakim, Calcutta's mayor and urban development and municipal affairs minister, and Trinamul leader Madan Mitra.
"I was chairman of Ranaghat Municipality from 1995 to 2020," said BJP leader Chatterjee, who represents Ranaghat Northwest (Nadia) in the Assembly.
"The CBI team had come to probe recruitments made during my tenure. The agency didn't turn up at the house of a BJP MLA but that of a former chairman of a municipality."
Sources in the agency said Monday's search operations, much like that of the day before, were based on the statements of Ayan Sil, a businessman who had been arrested in March for his alleged involvement in the irregularities in recruitments in government-aided schools.
Sil’s company, ABS Infozon, had received the contract to evaluate and put barcodes on OMR sheets used to conduct tests for recruitments in schools and civic bodies.
"I had met Ayan when he participated in the tender process in regard to recruitments for Ranaghat Municipality," Chatterjee said. "He had participated in the recruitment process twice."
The CBI teams also went to Uluberia in Howrah, Madhyamgram in North 24-Parganas and Diamond Harbour in South 24-Parganas, among other places.
Officers were tight-lipped about the search operations.
"We will scrutinise the documents that we have collected," said an officer who was leading the team that went to the house of Meera Halder, a former chairperson of Diamond Harbour Municipality.
"The team didn't question me much. They wanted to know details about my family members — six sisters and two daughters," Halder said.
