The Enforcement Directorate on Monday arrested Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and former West Bengal minister Sujit Bose under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), making him the first senior TMC figure to be detained since the BJP came to power in the state’s 2026 Assembly elections just days ago.
Who Is Sujit Bose?
Bose, 63, is a senior TMC leader with a long political career. He began as a leader of the Democratic Youth Federation of India, the youth wing of the CPI(M), and was once a close aide of communist veteran Subhash Chakraborty. He parted ways with Chakraborty in the late 1990s and joined the TMC in 2001. He first entered the West Bengal Assembly in 2009 after winning a bypoll.
He served as Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Fire and Emergency Services in Mamata Banerjee’s government from 2021 to 2026, and was an MLA from Bidhannagar constituency from 2011 to 2026. In the 2026 Assembly elections, Bose lost the Bidhannagar seat to BJP’s Sharadwat Mukherjee by a margin of 37,330 votes.
What Are The Charges?
The ED arrested Bose in connection with the alleged municipality recruitment scam under PMLA provisions. According to ED officials, he was questioned for nearly 10 hours at the agency’s CGO Complex office in Salt Lake, Kolkata, before being taken into custody.
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Bose is suspected to have played a direct role in providing jobs to around 150 employees across various categories in the South Dum Dum Municipality, recommending them for positions in exchange for financial benefits.
The civic body scam involves alleged irregularities in recruitment of labourers, sweepers, clerks, peons, ambulance attendants, pump operators, and sanitary assistants, among others. Investigators reportedly claimed to have found evidence of proceeds of crime, including flats allegedly received in return for arranging municipal jobs, and large cash deposits traced to bank accounts said to be under Bose’s control.
ED officials said Bose was “evasive” and “inconsistent” in his replies, which led to his arrest. He is to be produced before a special PMLA court on Tuesday, where the agency will seek his custody for further interrogation.
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The arrest came just days after the BJP swept the Bengal Assembly elections with a 207-seat majority, defeating Mamata Banerjee’s TMC, and a day after Suvendu Adhikari was sworn in as Chief Minister.
The ED had, reportedly, summoned Bose several times before the elections, but he had been unable to appear, citing his campaign schedule. He eventually appeared before investigators following a High Court order.
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