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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches at the homes and rice mills of two aides of state minister Jyoti Priya Mallick on Saturday in North 24 Parganas district in connection with the alleged irregularities in ration distribution. The probe agency also searched multiple premises in Kolkata, Howrah and Nadia districts which continued by the time this story went to press.
ED officials said the names of Mallick’s two aides, Montu Saha and Kalidas Saha, surfaced during the interrogation of the minister and Kolkata-based businessman Bakibur Rahman. Mallick, who held the food and supplies portfolio between 2011 and 2021, was arrested on October 27 over alleged corruption in the public distribution system. He is currently in ED custody. Rahman, considered to be a close confidante of Mallick, was also arrested by the ED.
Sources said the ED teams raided a flour mill in Kalupur village in Bangaon city of North 24 Parganas district. Apart from North 24 Parganas, the search operations were conducted at the house of rice mill owner and PDS dealer Nitai Ghosh in ward No. 17 of Ranaghat and the home of Siddheshwar Biswas in Ward No. 1 in Nadia. A flour factory and godown by the name ‘Ankit India Limited’ in Jalan Complex in Domjur town of Howrah was also searched, they added.
The ED has also alleged that huge quantities of wheat seized in 2020 were shown as “unclaimed” rather than “stolen”. The wheat was then sent to Radhakrishna Flower Mill in North 24 Parganas, it added.
“In October 2020, police seized a total of 5,101 tonnes of wheat loaded in 175 trucks from Ghojadanga in Basirhat subdivision of North 24 Parganas. Of this, 1,652 tonnes of wheat were sent to Radhakrishna Flower Mill in North 24 Parganas’ Bangaon,” an official said. In Kolkata, the searches were conducted at premises in the Salt Lake area.
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