Kolkata, Feb 16 (IANS): The Enforcement Directorate on Friday conducted raids and search operations at the residence of a private promoter Rajib Dey, who is a confidant of former West Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee, in connection with the multi-crore cash-for-school job case.

The fresh operation was conducted after the central agency sleuths got information about Dey's real estate business, in which close relatives of Chatterjee, including his deceased wife and son-in-law served as directors at some point of time or other.

The ED sleuths have recently interrogated two Trinamool Congress councilors namely Bappaditya Dasgupta and Partha Sarkar, during which they revealed about Dey being a confidant of Chatterjee.

The sleuths have also come across definite clues about the investment of the ill-gotten proceeds from the scam in real estate projects linked to Dey and his companies.

Besides the residence of Dey which is quite close to the ancestral residence of the former state education minister at Naktala in South Kolkata, parallel raids and search operations are being conducted at three other places in Kolkata.

Each ED team is being escorted by the armed personnel of central armed police forces.