Kolkata, Dec 21 (IANS) Enforcement Directorate (ED) has got clues about the continued association of the arrested West Bengal Minister Jyotipriya Mallick with the ration distribution case even after his portfolio was changed from the food & supplies department to the state forest department in 2021, sources said.

During the marathon raid and search operations at the state forest department headquarters at Aranya Bhavan at Salt Lake on Tuesday, the ED sleuths recovered crucial documents from the chamber of Mallick as the state forest minister.

Sources said that among other things, the ED sleuths also recovered 100 contract-papers for direct purchase of the foodgrain from the farmers. From the seizure of these documents, which is supposed to be at the office of the state food & supplies department instead of the office of the state forest department, it became clear to the central agency sleuths that Mallick’s association with the ration distribution case continued even as the state forest minister, sources said.

Mallick was the state food & supplies minister from 2011 to 2021, the period when the ration distribution irregularities peaked. After the 2021 West Bengal Assembly election, Mallick was made the state forest minister.

As per the findings of the ED officials, the direct foodgrain purchase from the farmers was an important component in the entire ration distribution case, when the poor farmers were duped.

The modus operandi was that first the foodgrain was purchased through fake farmers’ cooperatives at prices lower than the minimum support price (MSP) and thereafter the same was sold in the open markets at prices slightly higher than MSP.

On Tuesday, the ED officials also recovered documents of assets worth Rs 10 crore in the form of fixed deposits and life insurance certificates. The probe agency also recovered around 600 blank stamp-papers. The central agency sleuths suspect that these stamp-papers were supposed to be used for purchase of additional property.

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