Bengal ration case: Rs 1,000 cr converted into foreign currency by arrested Trinamool leader, ED tells court

This conversion, as the ED informed the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court, took place between the financial years 2012-13 and 2022-23.

Kolkata: A massive amount of Rs 1,000 crore, related to the alleged West Bengal ration scam, was converted into foreign currency through a foreign exchange dealing corporate entity linked to arrested Trinamool Congress leader Shankar Adhya, the Enforcement Directorate told a special court here on Saturday.

This conversion, as the ED informed the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court, took place between the financial years 2012-13 and 2022-23.

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The central agency said that while six foreign exchange dealing entities had direct links with the arrested Trinamool leader or his family members, Adhya used to use other similar entities as well in running these foreign currency exchange affairs. At the end of the hearing, the special court sent Adhya to judicial custody till February 3.

“Only God will punish them who are responsible for framing me in this conspiracy,” Adhya told media persons while getting into the prison van at the end of the hearing. On Saturday, Adhya’s counsel did not move any bail petition.

However, he made a plea for the transfer of his client, who was surviving on one kidney, to the correctional home hospital.

However, the ED counsel objected to it and claimed that current medical conditions of the arrested leader do not call for his hospitalisation.

The ED is seeking the help of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to get details of the foreign currency exchange transactions conducted in case of diverting the proceeds of the multi-crore ration distribution case.

The ED sleuths, sources said, has already identified some major deviations from the prescribed norms in the multi-crore foreign exchange dealings that have surfaced in course of the investigation in the ration distribution case.