The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested West Bengal Forest Minister Jyoti Priya Mallick in the wee hours of Friday, October 27, in connection with the alleged ration scam in the state and produced him in a Kolkata court that granted his remand for 10 days.
Mallick (65), a senior Trinamool Congress leader, was taken into custody under Sections 19 and 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after he was interrogated for nearly 20 hours when searches starting Thursday were carried out on properties belonging to him and his associates.
Meanwhile, the minister, who held the Food and Supplies portfolio from 2011 to 2021, fainted in the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s court and even vomited before he was taken in an ambulance to a private hospital where he was admitted later. He told the judge that his blood sugar level was high and he had swelling in his feet.
The court ordered that though Mallick will be in ED custody till November 6, the period during which he will remain in hospital will be excluded from the remand period. The court also ruled that the hospital will set up a medical board within 24 hours and the minister’s lawyer can meet him for an hour every day.
The agency had prayed for a 14-day remand of the accused.
Earlier, when being taken by the ED officials and CRPF personnel from his Salt Lake residence to the agency’s office in CGO Complex in Kolkata, the minister said, “I am a victim of a huge conspiracy. Suvendu Adhikari (Leader of Opposition in Assembly) and the BJP are behind this.”