A case of nagging cuffs

 High-profile arrests by the ED and the CBI harrow the Trinamool Congress  

- RABI BANERJEE

AFTER YEARS OF SLOW progress in investigating cases, the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate have swung into action in Kolkata. Dozens of high-profile cases—ranging from coal pilferage and cross-border cattle smuggling to money laundering and political murder—are keeping the central agencies busy and the West Bengal government worried.

Both the ED and the CBI in Kolkata have had a makeover in recent times. The CBI has set up a new team of investigators, headed by joint director N. Srinivasan. The ED has received a reinforcement of around 100 officers from Delhi, who have been tasked with clearing bottlenecks in ongoing investigations in cases registered across West Bengal.

Most such cases are not new; but the doggedness with which the agencies are pursuing them is. The ED, which had been probing allegations that 19 ministers in the Trinamool Congress government had assets disproportionate to their known income, made its first big arrest last month. Partha Chatterjee, Trinamool veteran and number two in Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet, was nabbed on July 23 in a case related to irregularities in the recruitment of schoolteachers. The ED also arrested Chatterjee’s associate Arpita Mukherjee, and unearthed around 050 crore in cash and gold from various properties linked to them. The CBI has arrested two former members of the West Bengal School Service Commission for making “improper” recruitments.