Bengal PDS scam: Following 24-hour raids, the ED arrests a businessman

Running an export-import company, Biswajit Das was taken into custody following a night-long interrogation at his Salt Lake, Kolkata suburb.According to federal agency officials, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) detained a businessman in Kolkata on Wednesday on suspicion of money laundering connected to the purported Rs20,000 crore public distribution system (PDS) fraud in West Bengal.

He has been placed under ED’s custody by a Kolkata court.According to the ED, Biswajit Das operates an export-import company. He was taken into custody following a nightlong interrogation at his Salt Lake, on the eastern outskirts of Kolkata. Before the businessman was taken into custody, up to six of his offices and homes were examined over the course of a day.

In this instance, on October 27, of last year, Jyotipriya Mallick, the former minister of food, was detained. The scandal is estimated to be worth Rs20,000 crore, the ED said a Kolkata court on January 20.Between 2011—the year the TMC first came to power—to 2021, Mallick served as West Bengal’s food minister. During that time, there was a fraud in which subsidised food grains intended for the PDS system were diverted to the open market and sold.