After conducting a raid at the residence of Dipendralal Moitra, father of Trinamul Congress leader, Mahua Moitra in Kolkata for around six hours on Saturday, a CBI team launched a similar operation at the latter’s party office in Krishnanagar in Nadia district.
Today in the morning, a team of CBI officers reached the residence of the father of Mahua Moitra, who was recently expelled from the Lok Sabha in connection with the alleged cash-for-query scam.
Shortly after the raid was completed in Kolkata, a team of CBI officers accompanied by the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel reached the party office of Moitra in Krishnanagar, which also serves as the campaign centre for the Trinamul leader, who has been re-nominated to contest the Krishnanagar Lok Sabha seat.
While the party office is located in the Siddheswaritala area in Krishnanagar, Moitra generally stays at Karimpur in the same district. Party insiders apprehend that in due course of time, the central agency might reach there as well.
As per sources, the CBI team took printouts of various documents stored in the computer and laptop found at the residence of Moitra’s father in South Kolkata.
Sources said that CBI team reached a residential flat belonging to businessman Dipendralal Moitra, at Ratnabali housing complex at New Alipore area in South Kolkata. The raids come a day after the CBI registered a FIR against Mahua Moitra. The anti-corruption body Lokpal had earlier this week asked the CBI to probe the allegations against Ms Moitra and submit a report within six months.
The CBI team was escorted by Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel. However, the central agency officers were totally tight-lipped about the reason behind the raids.
It is learnt that Mahua Moitra does not stay at the flat and this morning her father was also not present when the central team reached there.
The CBI had also been asked to file periodical reports regarding the status of the investigation every month. “After careful evaluation and consideration of the entire material on record, there remains no doubt regarding the fact that the allegations levelled against the respondent public servant (RPS), most of which are supported by cogent evidence, are extremely serious in nature, especially in view of the position held by her,” Lokpal said in its order.
For the last few days there has been a flurry of raids by the ED, I-T and CBI in different pockets of West Bengal. On Friday, the ED raided the residence of minister for micro, small & medium enterprises and textiles Chandranath Sinha, in Birbhum district. Sources said that the ED sleuths recovered cash worth Rs 41 lakh and some incriminating documents from his place. Although the minister was not arrested by the ED sleuths, sources said he was unable to give satisfactory answers about the source of the cash recovered from his residence.