Kolkata: At least four Trinamool Congress candidates for the April 23, 29 assembly elections have been questioned or received summons for interrogation by different federal investigating agencies. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee addresses an election rally in Paschim Bardhaman district of West Bengal. (AITC) (HT_PRINT)

The Enforcement Directorate questioned Debasish Kumar, the Trinamool Congress candidate from south Kolkata’s high-profile Rashbehari assembly seat, on Friday, the second since Monday, in connection with some alleged land deals in the city, an official from the federal agency said, requesting anonymity.

Separately, TMC ministers and contesting candidates, Sujit Bose from the Bidhannagar seat and Rathin Ghosh from Madhyamgram, have been summoned on April 6 and 8 respectively in connection with alleged corruption in appointments by several district civic bodies, ED officials said.

In 2023, the Calcutta High Court ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe allegations that various civic bodies recruited 1,500 people between 2014 and 2018 in exchange for money.

While the two ministers, who were questioned earlier, did not comment on the fresh summons, Kumar said his party would address the issue.

“I said on Monday that I will not utter a word. The party will comment,” Kumar, who is pitted against Bharatiya Janata Party’s Swapan Dasgupta, told the media after being questioned for five hours.

In the two-phase polls to be held on April 23 and 29, Kumar, Bose and Ghosh will face the contest on the second date.

A fourth TMC candidate, Manab Kumar Porua from East Midnapore district’s Bhagabanpur seat, which goes to polls in the first phase, received a summons on Wednesday in connection with a 2022 bomb explosion case, hours before filing his nomination papers. As directed, he faced NIA officers on Thursday.

“They said I will be summoned again. I will cooperate,” said Porua, who was named in the case’s 2024 supplementary charge sheet. The NIA probe into the explosion, which claimed the lives of three TMC workers, was ordered by the Calcutta high court in 2023.

Chief minister and TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee reacted to the summons while addressing an election rally in North Dinajpur district on Friday afternoon.

“Elections are around the corner and the agencies have started summoning one TMC candidate after another. What were you doing all these years? Were you sleeping? Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?” Banerjee said.

In Kolkata, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said, “It is part of the BJP’s old tactics to use federal agencies for electoral leverage.”

Bengal BJP’s chief spokesperson Debjit Sarkar dismissed allegation that the summons are linked to the elections.

Sarkar said: “We cannot say that summoning a person in connection with an ongoing investigation is a violation of the Constitution. The ruling party should ask these questions to the judges who ordered the probes.”