Kolkata, 24 February (H.S):The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday filed a new supplementary chargesheet in the multi-crore West Bengal ration distribution scam case.

This marks the fifth supplementary chargesheet submitted by the ED in the Special Court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Kolkata. According to sources, the chargesheet includes the name of Shantanu Bhattacharya, the personal chartered accountant of former Food and Supplies Minister Jyotipriya Mallick.

Mallick was arrested by the ED two years ago in connection with this scam but was granted bail by the Special PMLA Court last month.

Apart from Bhattacharya, the new chargesheet also names two rice mill owners, Subrata Ghosh and Hitesh Chandak. ED officials have detailed how the illegally acquired money from the scam was funneled through the accused individuals’ bank accounts.

Earlier, ED officials had alleged that Shantanu Bhattacharya was primarily involved in manipulating the former minister’s financial transactions. The latest chargesheet provides further details supporting this claim.

Earlier this month, ED officials conducted raids at three locations in West Bengal—Shyampur and Jagatballavpur in Howrah district, and Santoshpur in South 24 Parganas district. One of the raided locations belonged to a local businessman in charge of a cooperative society that handled grain procurement from farmers.

The ED’s investigation has placed several cooperative societies under scrutiny for allegedly engaging in double profiteering. One method involved purchasing grain from farmers at prices lower than the Minimum Support Price (MSP). The second involved diverting a portion of this grain to the open market at higher rates instead of supplying it to the state government’s Food and Supplies Department for the Public Distribution System (PDS).

Hindusthan Samachar / S P Singh