Bengal Ex-Minister Faces Probe Agency ED Searches In Fund Collection Case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today searched multiple locations linked to former West Bengal minister Indranil Sen in a case of illicit collection of funds by using the name of a United Nations body. His wife is also an accused in the case.

Sources said a farmhouse in Hoogly's Singur is being searched while another search is going on at the house of the former Bengal tourism minister in Kolkata's Kasba.

A total of 10 locations across Kolkata including Highland Park are being searched, sources said.

Indranil Sen

Preliminary reports said a businessman close to the minister is among those involved in the alleged case of collecting funds in the name of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

Central force personnel accompanied the Enforcement Directorate officials during the searches; they have cordoned off the areas where the searches are being conducted.

Sen had contested the Bengal assembly election earlier this year as a Trinamool Congress candidate from Hooghly and lost.

Bengal BJP leader and minister Dilip Ghosh said the government is acting on a complaint of corruption. "Immediate action will be taken on complaints. Money collection has started in the name of Durga Puja. All this is illegal and the government is taking measures against it," he said.

Sources said the house of a close relative of Sen is being searched too.

In June, a Bengal resident had filed a police complaint against Sen and his wife, Madhuchhanda, that money had allegedly been extorted by misusing a UNESCO tag during Durga Puja by the former minister and a company.