PMLA case: Court sends Trinamool leader to 14-day ED custody

KOLKATA: A Special Court here on Saturday sent Trinamool Congress leader Shankar Adhya, arrested on Friday in connection with the multi-crore ration distribution case in West Bengal, to a 14-day Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody.

It has been alleged that Adhya first converted the proceeds involved in the scam first into foreign currencies, and simultaneously routed the amount overseas, mainly to Dubai, through the Hawala route.

On Friday, the ED counsel told the special PMLA court that there was regular communication between Adhya and Jyotipriyo Mallick, the former state food & supplies minister earlier arrested by the ED in connection with the ration distribution case.

The ED counsel claimed that the communication continued even when the arrested minister was shifted to state-run S.S.K.M. Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata from his judicial custody.

The ED counsel told the court that from the hospital bed, Mallick used to send handwritten communications to Adhya and one of such communications was accessed by the central agency sleuths.

According to the counsel, the minister used to send the written communication through his daughter who regularly came to the hospital to meet him.

The ED counsel said that the central armed forces personnel deputed at the cabin of the minister accessed the written communication on December 16, while the minister was handing over the written communication to his daughter.

Later, the security personnel handed over the 'communication note' to the ED sleuths.