ED attaches assets worth Rs. 150 crore in West Bengal PDS scam

New Delhi, April 13

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth more than Rs 150 crore linked to former West Bengal food minister Jyoti Priya Mallick and two others in a PDS ration scam. 

The other two accused are flour miller Bakibur Rahaman, and TMC leader Shankar Adhya. 

The officials mentioned that the attached assets include 48 immovable properties of different people and entities including Mallick’s house in Salt Lake, Bolpur, several other “benami properties” held in the name of his close associates, two hotels of Rahaman in Kolkata and Bengaluru each, bank balance in various accounts and fixed deposits. 

The ED has filed two charge sheets in this case against Mallick, Rahaman and a company called NPG Rice Mill.

Mallick allegedly “received” some of these immovable properties worth more than crores of rupees as “gifts” in the name of his family members or close associates, it said. Adhya is a TMC leader from Bongaon under North 24 Parganas district.

The ED said the book value of these assets is Rs 50.47 crore while their market value is estimated to be significantly more than Rs 150 crore. It has claimed that “proceeds of crime” worth more than Rs 10,000 crore were generated through this alleged scam which the agency began investigating after taking cognisance of some West Bengal Police FIRs.

As per the ED investigation, some private persons were found in unauthorised possession of rations meant for delivery through the Public Distribution System and were found to be involved in bogus procurement of paddy. The accused were involved in siphoning of PDS ration to open market, mixing old wheat flour in fresh flour meant for PDS distribution and bogus paddy procurement at Minimum Support Price (MSP).

The investigation showed that proceeds were laundered to Dubai and other nations by converting the Indian rupee into foreign currencies through full-fledged money changer companies owned or controlled by Adhya.