The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Saturday (April 11, 2026) raided the residence of former Trinamool Congress (TMC) Minister Partha Chatterjee in connection with the West Bengal school teacher’s recruitment scam. Five months after securing bail, the former senior TMC leader has again come under the ED’s scanner with the fresh raids at his residence in south Kolkata’s Naktala area. 

Mr. Chatterjee was reportedly present at his residence during the time of the raid, sources said. His residence was cordoned off by Central forces at around 11 a.m. in the morning. 

Mr. Chatterjee was previously summoned to the ED’s office for questioning, but he did not attend, citing health issues.

After being released from jail, Mr. Chatterjee had shown keen interest in returning to the TMC. However, although he is the sitting MLA from Behala Pashchim, he was denied a ticket, having been ousted from the party immediately after his arrest in the cash-for-jobs scam.

Mr. Chatterjee was released from jail after three years in prison on November 11, 2025. In 2022, the former West Bengal Education Minister was grilled for over 24 hours before he was arrested from the same residence in Naktala on July 23. His close aide Arpita Mukherjee was also arrested with him at the time. 

The former TMC general secretary was arrested after ₹20 crore in cash and a huge amount of gold was seized from Ms. Mukherjee’s residence. 

Series of summons 

Meanwhile, three TMC candidates contesting in the upcoming Assembly election have also been summoned by the ED and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the past few weeks, ahead of the Assembly election.

The TMC’s Bhangabanpur candidate from the ruling party, Manab Kumar Parua, was asked to appear before NIA officials on April 2. The TMC’s Rashbehari candidate, sitting MLA Debasish Kumar, has appeared before the ED on multiple occasions in the past few weeks. Sujit Bose, TMC candidate from Bidhannagar constituency, was also summoned by the ED. However, Mr. Bose cited health issues and skipped the summons on Friday (April 10, 2026).

The TMC leadership has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of using Central agencies to harass the party’s candidates.