Bengal ration case: ED gives court details of commission received by arrested min

Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday, furnished at a special court in Kolkata the details of the commission received by arrested West Bengal Minister Jyotipriya Mallick in the ration distribution case.

Mallick, the current West Bengal forest minister and the former food and supplies minister, was arrested in October last year by the ED sleuths in connection with the ration distribution case.

According to information furnished by the ED counsel, the commission mainly came from food grain mill owners in West Bengal having the licence to supply products for the Public Distribution System.

As per estimates of the agency, each mill owner had to pay an unofficial commission for every quintal of food grain supplied for the PDS, the major portion of which went to the private kitty of the arrested minister.

According to ED, detailed information on this count was available in a diary.

Sources aware of the development said that the Kolkata-based businessman Bakibur Rahaman, a close confidant of Mallick and the first to be arrested by the ED in the ration distribution case, has also confessed a lot of things about this commission chain during interrogation.

The ED has so far arrested three persons in connection with the case, the first being Rahaman, followed by Mallick and finally Trinamool Congress leader Shankar Adhya on January 5 from the latter's residence at Bangaon in North 24 Parganas district.

As per the findings by the central agency, Mallick was the principal beneficiary and Rahaman was his main intermediate in this collection chain.

Adhya, was responsible for channelising the proceeds by converting it into foreign currency and then diverting it through the hawala route to foreign nations, mainly Dubai.