In Rs 10,000 Crore Kolkata PDS Ration Scam, ED Seizes Residence & Hotels Of Former Minister JP Mallick, Others

in rs 10,000 crore kolkata pds ration scam, ed seizes residence & hotels of former minister jp mallick, others

The Kolkata wing of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Friday provisionally attached assets worth Rs 150 crore in the PDS Ration Scam. The assets include 48 immovable properties, including the residential house of former minister Jyoti Priya Mallick, and two hotels belonging to rice and flour miller Bakibur Rahaman in Kolkata and Bengaluru.

It is also found that Jyoti Priya Mallick had allegedly received various immovable properties worth more than crores of rupees as “gift” without any consideration in the name of his family members or close associates, which have been provisionally attached under PMLA, 2002.

The ED initiated investigation on the basis of various FIRs registered by West Bengal Police, wherein various private persons were found in unauthorized possession of ration meant for delivery through PDS and also found to be involved in bogus procurement of paddy. During PMLA investigations, three important modus operandi were detected for generation of Proceeds of Crime (PoC) related to PDS scam viz siphoning of PDS ration to open market, mixing of old wheat flour in fresh flour meant for PDS distribution and bogus paddy procurement at MSP.

It is suspected that in the PDS scam, proceeds of crime worth more than Rs 10,000 crore was generated.

In this case, Bakibur Rahaman, Jyoti Priya Mallick, Sankar Addhya and Biswajit Das were arrested u/s 19 of PMLA, 2002 and all are at present in judicial custody.

It is also revealed during the investigation that a huge amount of PoC was laundered to Dubai and other countries by converting INR into foreign currencies through full-fledged money changer companies owned/controlled by Sankar Addhya, Biswajit Das and others.

In this regard, Prosecution Complaint was filed before the Hon’ble Special Court (PMLA), Kolkata in December 2023, and Supplementary Prosecution Complaint was filed in March this year.

Cognizance of both the complaints has been taken by the Hon’ble Court. Further, prayer has been made vide above complaints for confiscation of properties acquired/obtained from Proceeds of Crime (PoC) which includes 101 immovable properties and balance in several bank accounts.