ED grills WB minister after arrest in connection with alleged ration scam

West Bengal minister Jyoti Priya Mallick has been grilled by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with an alleged ration distribution scam. He had been admitted to hospital after falling in court on the day of his arrest. Mallick is accused of involvement in the scam, which saw rice and wheat intended for ration distributors sold on the open market. Businessman Bakibur Rahaman has already been arrested in relation to the case.

Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday grilled West Bengal minister Jyoti Priya Mallick, four days after he was arrested by the federal agency, in connection with the alleged multi-crore ration distribution scam.

The Enforcement Directorate. (Representative image.)

Even though Mallick was arrested by the ED in the early of hours of Friday, he had to be admitted in the hospital after he fell down in the court room the same day.

“It was only on Monday night that he was discharged from the hospital and the ED took him into custody. He was questioned on Tuesday,” said an ED official.

Mallick, who holds the portfolios of public enterprises and industrial reconstruction and forest in chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet, was earlier the state’s food minister.

Mallick was arrested on October 27 after the ED searched his house and questioned him for around 20 hours. The minister was produced in the court the same day. The court had sent him to ED custody.

Officials said that Mallick was questioned for his alleged involvement in the alleged scam. The ED had seized some documents and other items from his house on Thursday during the search operation.

Raids were simultaneously carried out at two of Mallick’s house in Salt Lake, his ancestral house in north Kolkata and five other places including the premises of his close associate and his chartered accountant.

On Tuesday, he was confronted with the documents seized during the raids and also with the statements given to the agency other persons who were questioned earlier.

On October 14, the ED arrested a businessman Bakibur Rahaman from Kolkata. Rahaman allegedly used to siphon off rice and wheat meant to be supplied to ration distributors, which was then sold in the open market. He is now in ED custody. The agency has also already questioned Mallick’s close associates Amit Dey and Abhijit Das.