Jyotipriya Mallick ensured Govt job to aide who helped in money laundering: ED charge sheet

Kolkata, Dec 13 (IANS) Jyotipriya Mallick, the West Bengal Minister arrested in the ration distribution case assured one of his confidants a government job, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has mentioned in its first charge sheet filed with a special court in Kolkata on Tuesday.

This has been mentioned on page number 139 of the charge sheet, sources said, where the ED has named one Abhishek Biswas whose job in a state government department was fixed by Mallick.

Biswas, as per the charge sheet, was appointed in the state forest department, whose current minister in charge is Mallick.

Before taking over as the state forest minister in 2021, Mallick was the state food and supplies minister from 2011 to 2021 when the maximum irregularities in ration distribution took place, as per the findings of the ED sleuths.

In the charge sheet, sources said, the central agency has detailed Biswas’ background as well as how he got involved in the ration distribution case.

Biswas is the brother-in-law of the Kolkata-based businessman Bakibur Rahaman, who was the first to be arrested by ED sleuths in the ration distribution case. He is currently in judicial custody at Presidency Central Correctional Home in South Kolkata, while the minister is admitted at the state-run SSKM Medical College & Hospital.

According to ED sources, Biswas was given a state government job after he played a key role in diverting funds from the shell corporate entity, whose name surfaced in the course of investigation, to another destination.

When the process of winding up the said shell entity -- which was indirectly operated by the minister -- started, then the latter took the help of Biswas in diverting the funds, following the advice of Rahaman.

A couple of Biswas’s bank accounts were used for diversion of funds. After he successfully accomplished that task, as per the ED’s findings, the minister got him the job in the state forest department.