Ration scam case: Bankshall Court rejects Bakibur Rahman’s bail plea

Kolkata: The bail plea filed by arrested businessman Bakibur Rahman in the alleged ration scam case was rejected by the Bankshall Court on Saturday. He will remain in custody till November 11.

While arguing against Bakibur’s bail plea, the lawyer representing the Enforcement Directorate (ED) claimed that if he gets bail then he may exert influence and try to destroy evidence. Bakibur was arrested by ED on October 13 after 54 hours of extensive raid by the central investigative agency. It was alleged that his assets seem to have witnessed unnatural growth since 2016. He was reportedly close to a Cabinet minister. Meanwhile, state Forest minister Jyotipriya Mallick’s personal assistant Amit Dey and former assistant Abhijit Das were called to CGO Complex on Saturday for questioning with regards to the alleged ration scam. This was the second time that Amit Dey was called for questioning by ED.

These developments took place a day after the minister was remanded to ED custody till November 6. The Enforcement Directorate conducted a raid at the minister’s Salt Lake residence since Thursday morning in connection with the ration supply scam case where alleged irregularities in the sale of wheat and rice designated for public distribution through fair-price or ration shops happened between 2020 and 2021. Mallick was the state Food and Supplies minister from 2011 to 2021.

On Thursday, ED officials also conducted raids at flats in Nagerbazar, owned by the minister’s current personal assistant Dey. The central investigative agency had also searched the house of minister’s former assistant Abhijit Das on Thursday. Reportedly, ED had mentioned recovery of a ‘maroon diary’ and claimed that the diary mentioned details of monetary transactions and reportedly Jyotipriya was mentioned by his nickname ‘Balu’.

It was learnt that hours after Mallick’s arrest, ED had frozen his bank accounts as well as those belonging to his wife and daughter.