ED raids Partha’s home five months after his bail in school recruitment scam case
Telegraph | 13 April 2026
An Enforcement Directorate team conducted a search-and-seizure operation at the Naktala residence of former education minister Partha Chatterjee on Saturday, five months after he was released on bail in a case of alleged corruption in school recruitments.
A separate ED team visited an office in New Town linked to Prasanna Roy, an alleged middleman in the scam and an aide to the suspended Trinamool leader. Roy is now in judicial custody.
The ED swoop came days ahead of the Assembly elections in which the BJP is trying to make alleged institutional corruption their poll plank against the Mamata Banerjee government.
Chatterjee, who was granted bail in November after over three years in custody, was at home when the team arrived with armed central force personnel around 11am.
Sources said Chatterjee was taken aback when ED officers introduced themselves and the central forces took position outside his house. The ED team searched several rooms in the two-storey house, sources added.
ED sources said the team was looking for documents that could throw more light on the money trail in the alleged school recruitment scam.
“Former education minister Partha Chatterjee was served three summons asking him to appear for questioning, which he didn’t. On the last occasion in March, he excused himself from facing the interrogation on medical grounds,” a senior ED official said.
“Chatterjee had said officers could visit his house for questioning,” one ED official said.
Some 15 minutes into the ED operation, a separate team was seen entering Chatterjee’s house with printers and scanners.
The ED operations came on a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah were campaigning in Bengal.
Addressing an election rally in East Burdwan, Modi said the BJP-led government in Bengal will release a “white paper” on alleged corruption by the Trinamool Congress for over 15 years.
“The white paper will be released so that legal action can be initiated against each corrupt minister, each bidhayak (MLA), goonde (goons), and syndicates,” Modi said.
In July 2022, the ED arrested Chatterjee for his alleged involvement in the irregularities in school recruitments. The CBI formally arrested him later, while he was in judicial custody.
In December 2024, the Supreme Court granted bail to Chatterjee but ordered that he would be released after the trial court completes the examination of material witnesses within two months.
A special CBI court in Calcutta finally granted him bail in November 2025.
The Trinamool Congress reacted sharply to Saturday’s raids and labelled them as “a desperate effort to set a new narrative” ahead of the Assembly polls.
“This is the ED’s attempt to please their BJP bosses. Ahead of the elections, the BJP is trying to set a new narrative. But all this won’t help,” said Jay Prakash Majumder, a senior Trinamool leader.
The New Town address raided is said to be linked to Prasanna Roy’s tours and travels business. Central forces surrounded the premises as ED teams searched the office.
The CBI had arrested Roy in August 2022 for his alleged role as the primary link for collecting money from candidates in exchange for jobs.
In November 2023, the Supreme Court granted him bail.