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Kolkata: Hours after arrest, Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday froze West Bengal Minister and TMC leader Jyotipriya Mallick’s bank accounts as well as those of his wife and daughter in the alleged ‘ration scam’ case. Malik’s mobile phones were also seized and sent for forensic examination, an official said. ED is also in the process of attaching the properties linked to the minister.
According to the official, during the searches, ED officials also seized official rubber stamps of some private companies. The ED preliminary investigation also said that Malik’s wife and daughter held directorships in three companies that were allegedly involved in routing funds in the scam.
Mallick, who is currently the state minister for Forest Affairs, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate late on Thursday night in connection to an alleged corruption case, ‘ration scam’. The minister claimed to be a ‘victim of a grave conspiracy’. Earlier he had the charge of Food and Civil Supplies Department.
Mallick hospitalised soon after hearing
The state’s forest minister had fainted in the court during a hearing inside the Bankshall court, and was later rushed to a city hospital immediately for medical assistance on Friday following which his condition was declared stable.
“The minister had a good sleep in the night. He made no complaints regarding experiencing any uneasiness,” a senior doctor, who is part of the team monitoring Mallick’s health condition, at the hospital told PTI.
“Mallick has been admitted with an initial diagnosis of hyperglycaemia, renal impairment, dyselectrolytemia, and pre-syncope with a background of T2DM and hypertension,” the hospital said in a bulletin on Friday night. Mallick underwent a CT scan, MRI, and blood tests, the doctors said.
The arrest came a day after the ED conducted searches at Mallick’s residence in Salt Lake, on the outskirts of Kolkata. Earlier this year, the ED had arrested former West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and his aide Arpita Mukherjee, in connection with the teachers’ recruitment scam, after the recovery of huge cash from the latter’s residence.
Federal probe agency officials, during searches at the house of a close associate of Malik in Howrah, seized a diary containing details of transactions made in the scam, he said. Preliminary investigation also revealed the names of three companies from where huge loans were given to Malik, which the minister did not repay.
