Bengal PDS scam: ED to submit second charge sheet next week

Kolkata, March 2 (SocialNews.XYZ) The ED will be filing its second charge sheet with two new names, in the multi-crore West Bengal PDS case at a special court in Kolkata on March 5, sources said on Saturday.

The ED filed its first charge sheet in the case in December last year and the central agency named West Bengal minister Jyotipriya Mallick and Kolkata-based businessman Bakibur Rahaman as accused in the case and both are currently in judicial custody.

Sources said the two new names that will be included in the second charge sheet will be that of Trinamool Congress leader and foreign currency exchange dealer Shankar Adhya and his business associate Biswajit Das.

Both the men were arrested by the ED after the first charge sheet was filed in the PDS case.

Sources added that the second charge sheet is expected to provide details on how Adhya and Das diverted the proceeds of the alleged racket, first by converting them into foreign currency and then parking the funds abroad, mainly in Dubai and Bangladesh.

The second charge sheet is also expected to reveal details on how the proceeds were invested in different businesses run by Adhya and Das, especially the thriving garments business that the latter used to operate from Bangladesh.

In the first charge sheet, ED referred to ten shell corporate entities that were opened to divert the funds.

The ED gave details of how Jyotipriya Mallick steered the operations in these shell entities by making his family members, including his wife and daughter, as well as close confidants the directors of these corporate entities.

Source: IANS