ED arrests West Bengal minister Jyotipriyo Mallick in money-laundering case

Bengal minister Jyotipriyo Mallick remanded in ED custody

Kolkata, October 27

West Bengal minister Jyotipriyo Mallick, who fainted during a court hearing, was on Friday remanded in Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody for 10 days following his arrest by the Central agency in an alleged ration distribution scam case.

The state forest minister collapsed after fainting during a hearing inside the Bankshall court here and was later rushed to a city hospital for immediate medical care, an official said.

Mallick who has been suffering from a number of ailments, was produced in court after being arrested in the early hours of Friday and being medically examined at the ESI Hospital in southern Kolkata.

The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Calcutta Tanumoy Karmakar granted the ED’s plea for custody of the minister and remanded him in the central agency’s custody for 10 days till November 5.

The ED said it needed to take Mallick into custody to question him in connection with the alleged ration scam, claiming that they have found his links with one Bakibur Rahaman, who was arrested nearly a fortnight ago in the case.

Rejecting the minister’s bail prayer, the court directed that Mallick be produced before the court again on November 6. Since the minister fell ill in the courtroom, the court allowed his treatment at a private hospital of his choice, following which he could be shifted to Command Hospital in the city if required.

The court also directed that the period of hospitalisation if any, will be excluded from the period of the ED custody granted by it.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested the West Bengal minister under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, following over 17-18 hours of questioning.

ED officials said Mallick was taken from his home in the Salt Lake area on the outskirts of Kolkata to the central agency’s office here around 3.30 am.

“I am a victim of a great conspiracy,” the TMC minister told reporters after being arrested by ED in connection with the alleged ration distribution scam.

Mallick also alleged that the “conspiracy was hatched by the BJP and its leader Suvendu Adhikari”, a former colleague in the TMC party.

“It is a conspiracy. The BJP is actively engaging in plotting nefarious schemes against us,” said Mallick, who is currently state forest minister and had previously held the portfolio of food and supplies.

Earlier on Thursday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had threatened to file a police case if anything happened to Mallick during the questioning as he was unwell and had several medical ailments.

Banerjee had also termed the raids by the ED against opposition leaders as “a dirty political game” by the BJP.

The ED had earlier arrested Rahman Bakibur, believed to be a confidant of the minister,  whose remand is ending this week.

Sources said that the central agency may seek to confront the two with each other’s version of events in the case.

Hours after arresting West Bengal minister Mallick, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday froze his bank accounts as well as those belonging to his wife and daughter, a senior officer said.

Mallick’s mobile phones were also seized and sent for forensic examination, he added.

“We have sent instructions t  bank authorities to freeze the accounts of the minister, his wife and daughter. We are also trying to find out if there are other bank accounts used by the minister or anybody in his family,” the officer told PTI.

Mallick’s arrest is the second instance of a cabinet minister of TMC being apprehended by central agencies in connection with corruption cases.

Last year, former state minister Partha Chatterjee was arrested by the ED in a case related to a school job scam.

The agency had searched Mallick’s residences on Thursday. It also raided his ancestral house on Amherst Street in central Kolkata. The alleged scam pertains to reported irregularities in the public distribution system and also in the distribution of food grains during the Covid lockdowns.

“He was non-cooperative and gave confusing and self-contradictory replies to our officers during the questioning yesterday. He kept on saying that he was unable to take questions as he was ill. We need him to get answers to several queries related to the scam,” the ED officer told PTI.

The TMC labelled the arrest of its senior minister, Jyotipriyo Mallick, as “vendetta” politics and questioned the absence of action against BJP leaders who switched sides, facing corruption cases and investigations by central agencies.

Leading the TMC’s response, Minister Shashi Panja accused the BJP of attempting to silence opposition voices raising issues pertinent to the people.

She stated, “It is an attempt by the BJP to muzzle the opposition raising pro-people issues.”  Panja went on to ask, “The question is why corrupt BJP leaders and turncoats who have corruption charges against them are never summoned by the ED and CBI.”  She claimed the BJP is scared of the people’s movement launched by TMC demanding clearance of MGNREGA dues.

Panja also alleged that the “BJP has engaged in witch-hunting … (and) weaponized the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI” against opponents and added this “strategy would face resistance from the people of Bengal in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls”.

In response to the arrest of the state minister, the BJP said it was “expected” considering the pace of the investigation in the case.

BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said, “The arrest was anticipated after the revelations made by one of his associates, who was apprehended a few days ago. It has once again been proven that the TMC is deeply mired in corruption”.

Taking to X, formerly, Twitter, leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari said, “Henceforth, the state cabinet meeting will be convened inside the jail.”

In the past year, two other MLAs and TMC Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal have been arrested in connection with school job scams and cattle smuggling cases by central agencies.