Bengal ration distribution: How ED zeroed in on Jyotipriya Mallick?

Kolkata, Oct 26 (IANS) Despite no longer being in charge of the state food & supplies department, West Bengal Forest Minister Jyotipriya Mallick is under the Enforcement Directorate (ED) scanner in the multi-crore ration distribution case.

It is pertinent question to inquire how did the ED officials link Mallick with the matter despite him not holding the portfolio for the past two years.

According to agency insiders, the documents seized from the residence and office of Bakibur Rahman, a Kolkata- based businessman who was recently arrested by the ED in connection with the case, led the officials to him.

Though Mallick has been maintaining since the start that he had never been acquainted with Rahman, the documents seized by ED sleuths revealed that irregularities in selling of wheat meant for distribution through fair price shops in the open market mainly took place from 2020 till the first quarter of 2021, when Mallick was the minister in charge of the state food & supplies department.

So, agency insiders said, Mallick being the erstwhile minister of the department cannot shy away from his responsibilities and hence his questioning in the matter is imperative.

The second point of connection, the sources added, is a sudden increase in Rahman’s assets and properties during a period when Mallick was also the Trinamool Congress’s district president in North 24 Parganas — also the native district and the principal operations hub of Rahman.

ED has already traced property and assets worth over Rs 100 crore in the names of Rahman, his family members, relatives and close associates.

Incidentally, Trinamool Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee was arrested in July last year in connection with the multi-crore cash-for school job case in West Bengal when he was not the state education minister.

He was state commerce & industries minister at the time of his arrest. However, he was arrested because the irregularities on this count took place at a time when he was the state education minister till 2021.

–IANSsrc/shb