Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) chargesheeted Trinamul Congress minister Jyotipriyo Mullick and his close aide and influential businessman, Bakibur Rahaman, on Tuesday in the West Bengal ration scam.
In the chargesheet, the central agency has accused both of them, booked under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) charges, of running five shell companies each to divert the proceeds of the scam which it has estimated to be around ₹100 crores.
The ED chargesheet, which was submitted at the PMLA Court, has further details of Mr Mullick's role in appointing his wife Manidipa and daughter Priyadarshini and other family members and confidants as the directors in the shell firms to mastermind the scam.
This is the first chargesheet in the case. It runs into 168 pages and documents of 3000 pages of evidence. Mr Mullick, who is the state forest minister, was arrested by the ED on October 27 and has been in jail custody but is admitted at SSKM Hospital for treatment.
The scam took place when he was the state food supplies minister in two terms since 2011 when TMC came to power. Bakibur was held on October 14 and has been lodged at the Presidency Central Jail.
He has been charged for illegally selling flour, meant to be distributed through the public distribution system, in open market and procuring paddy at lower price than the minimum support price (MSP) from the farmers by opening fake cooperatives in their names and then selling the same above MSP in open market.
