ED conducts raids at 14 places

Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday conducted raids related to the probe of ration distribution corruption at about 14 places, including several ration dealers’ shops and residences in the Howrah district and one in the Bangur area.

On Wednesday morning multiple ED teams escorted by the Central Force jawans left the CGO complex. One of the teams reached the residence of a businessman identified as Mahendra Agarwal at Bangur Avenue. Besides conducting raid and search operations there, the ED officials also interrogated the said businessman.Apart from Bangur, raids were conducted at several places in the Howrah district.

At Panchla in Howrah, ED officials conducted a raid at the residence and warehouse of a Public Distribution System (PDS) dealer Loknath Saha.

The other places where the ED officials conducted raids were mainly the residences and shops of different PDS dealers who were under the scanner of the Central agency.

In the last week of September, the ED submitted a supplementary chargesheet to a special court in Kolkata, introducing eight new names to the case.The ED got definite clues about the Rahaman brothers having close association with the former state Food and Supplies Minister Jyotipriya Mallick and the Kolkata-based businessman Bakibur Rahaman.