KOLKATA: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) detained West Bengal minister and Trinamool Congress politician Jyoti Priya Mallick late on Thursday night in relation to the purported ration scam.
Mallick was taken into custody one day after the minister’s Salt Lake, Kolkata, home was searched by the Central Investigative Agency.
In relation to an alleged case of corruption in rationing distribution, West Bengal minister Jyotipriya Mallick has been arrested, the ED announced in an official announcement.
The minister responded to his detention by declaring that he was the “victim of a grave conspiracy” as he was being escorted away by ED detectives.
Searches have been conducted by the ED in relation to a suspected case of ration distribution corruption.
Mallick held the position for the Department of Food and Civil Supplies before being appointed state minister for Forest Affairs.
Following the ED searches, Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, took a hard stance against the Center’s “misuse of government agencies” in order to “unleash vendetta” and propagate false information against anyone who disagrees with it.
If something were to happen to Mallick, a diabetic, Banerjee threatened to file a formal complaint against the BJP and the ED, accusing federal agencies of employing illegal methods to ‘obtain names’.
Following the discovery of large amounts of cash at the latter’s apartment, the ED earlier this year detained former West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and his assistant Arpita Mukherjee in relation to the teachers’ recruitment scam.