Former chairman of Bongaon Municipality Shankar Adhya arrested, remanded to ED custody till Jan 20

Kolkata: The former chairman of Bongaon Municipality Shankar Adhya, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the wee hours of Saturday in connection with the alleged ration scam, was remanded to ED custody till January 20.

A Trinamool Congress leader in the North 24-Parganas, Adhya was arrested from his residence after day-long raids were conducted by the agency at his residence, his relative’s house and the residences of his two employees. He was brought to the ED office in Salt Lake and produced at a court in Kolkata later on Saturday.

During his production in court, Enforcement Directorate claimed that Adhya had transacted at least Rs 20,000 crore abroad through 90 Forex companies.

They further claimed that the money was sent to Dubai and other companies through two ways—Forex companies and sent to Bangladesh, from where it was then transacted to other countries. The lawyer representing Adhya countered that he was conducting legitimate business in Forex trading. Reportedly, Adhya’s name had surfaced in a letter by Jyotipriya Mallick, which also mentioned names of other people.

The Enforcement Directorate seized around Rs 8 lakh in cash from the residence of his relative and few documents. After his arrest, Adhya told the media that he will cooperate with the ED and will assist with the probe in every possible way.

Following his arrest, his supporters allegedly tried to block the investigators from taking him with them by reportedly hurling stones at their vehicles.

The CRPF personnel accompanying the ED team reportedly baton-charged the mob to bring the situation under control.

According to a news report, he was questioned and arrested as his replies were not found satisfactory by ED officials.

On Friday, ED had conducted raids at 12 places in connection with the alleged scam including three places in Kolkata. During one such raid at Sandeshkhali, the ED officials had come under mob attack.

ED conducted raids at the house of a businessman in Sinthee area and house of a chartered accountant in Bijoygarh, amongst others.