Ration distribution case: ED seeks details of arrested bizman’s association with state food dept

Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) probing the multi-crore ration distribution case in West Bengal has sought details from the state food & supplies department about the time when the rice and flour mills owned by Bakibur Rahaman, the arrested businessman in connection with the case, got licence for government supply.

The timing of Rahaman’s mills getting licence, sources said, is important for the central agency since it will help them make a calculation as to how much food-grain meant for distribution through fair price shops in the state were actually diverted for selling at a premium price in the open markets.

Meanwhile, the ED has also got specific information that besides opening fake cooperatives for purchasing paddy from the farmers below the minimum support price (MSP), Rahaman also conducted fake procurement camps from time to time for the same paddy procurement purpose from the farmers.

Depending on the procurement requirements, it has been a practice of the state food & supplies department to conduct such procurement camps from time to time, where farmers can assemble and sell their produce to the government at minimum support price.

However, in the case of the fake procurement camps conducted by Rahaman, paddy was procured at prices lower than that fixed in the MSP. The state food department seals which he somehow got possession of, sources added, played an instrumental role in this entire process.

Meanwhile, the ED is in constant touch with the authorities of state-run S.S.K.M. Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata, where state minister Jyotipriya Mallick, who has been arrested in connection with the case, was admitted on Tuesday following deterioration of his medical condition.

Before his admission, Mallick was lodged at the Presidency Jail.

–IANS