Enforcement Directorate ‘traces’ PDS scam money to Jyoti Priya Mallick’s kin

 The central investigating agency has traced close to Rs 31 crore to various sources, including Rs 2 crore to the accounts of Mallick’s wife and daughter as proceeds of crime, the chargesheet claimed

Jyoti Priya Mallick after his arrest by the ED on October 27.: PTI

Kinsuk Basu, Calcutta, 13.12.23 : The quantum of money involved in alleged irregularities in the public distribution system (PDS) linked to Jyoti Priya Mallick, the former minister in charge of food and civil supplies, and his aides stood close to Rs 100 crore, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said in its first chargesheet submitted to the court on Tuesday.

The central investigating agency has traced close to Rs 31 crore to various sources, including Rs 2 crore to the accounts of Mallick’s wife and daughter as proceeds of crime, the chargesheet claimed.

Apart from Mallick, the chargesheet — which comes almost 46 days since the forest minister was arrested for his alleged involvement in the irregularities — mentions Bakibur Rahman as a co-accused.

Mallick had been Bengal’s food and supplies minister from 2011 to 2021 and Bakibur, a Calcutta-based businessman, was one of his close aides, said the ED.

He is now in judicial custody with Mallick.

The chargesheet said certain entries in documents with the food and supplies department suggested that the irregularities continued till as late as September.

The 162-page chargesheet, which was submitted to the special ED court in the City Session Court on Tuesday, alleged that Mallick and Bakibur had been involved in setting up five companies each to park the embezzled money.

Among the 10 companies, two were shut down in 2022 and the third in April 2023.

“There are reasons to believe over Rs 450 crore was sent to Bakibur’s company in the account of at least 50 fake farmers for procuring rice. The funds were released by the West Bengal Essential Commodities Supply Corporation Limited when Mallick was its chairman,” said a senior ED officer, refusing to go into further details.

“None of these farmers existed and the accounts were created to bag the minimum support price offered by the state government.”

In the chargesheet, the central agency refers to the questioning of a bureaucrat, who was earlier with Mallick’s department, and the recording of the official’s statement. Details of the interrogation of the minister’s two associates, including his former personal aide Avijit Das, are mentioned in the chargesheet.

Das had earlier told reporters that his mother and wife had been made the directors of three companies at the behest of Mallick.

The three companies, two of which were set up on March 6, 2008, and the third, five days later on March 11, share the same address on Jessore Road in Dum Dum, North 24-Parganas. Mallick was the North 24-Parganas district president of the Trinamul Congress.

Senior ED officers said Bakibur had said he had offered loans to the tune of several crores of rupees from those companies to the minister and the amount had never been repaid.

“We will follow up the first chargesheet with another one, bringing more details about our probe into the volume of money that was allegedly involved in this case while trying to identify places where the proceeds were possibly parked,” the officer said.