Bengal ration scam: ED summons arrested Trinamool leader�s brother again

Kolkata, Jan 23 (IANS) Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday issued a fresh summon for interrogation to the younger brother of a Trinamool Congress leader already arrested by the agency in connection with the ration distribution case in West Bengal.

The fresh notice has been issued to Malay Adhya, the younger brother of Trinamool Congress leader Shankar Adhya, who is currently in judicial custody in the case.

Malay Adhya is a director of the ice-cream manufacturing entity christened 'Anjali Ice-Cream', which is owned by the arrested Trinamool Congress leader. ED sleuths have got specific clues about the proceeds of the ration distribution case being invested in this ice cream business, sources said.

This is the third time that Malay Adhya has been issued notice for interrogation and in the previous two occasions he ignored the notices. Sources said that the ED sleuths were considering tough action against him this time if he ignored the notice again.

Already the ED sleuths have questioned the arrested Trinamool Congress leader’s daughter Rituparna Adhya last week for about six hours at the central’s agency’s Salt Lake office in the northern outskirts of Kolkata. However, after coming out of the ED office she refused to speak to the mediapersons.

Other members of the Adhya family, who are also directors in different businesses linked to the arrested Trinamool Congress leader, are under the scanner of the ED sleuths.

The ED counsel has already informed a special court of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) that Shankar Adhya was responsible for first converting several crores of rupees of proceeds in the ration distribution case into foreign currency and then diverted them through the hawala route overseas, mainly to Dubai and Bangladesh.

ED sleuths have already raided a number of offices of foreign exchange dealing agencies in Kolkata in this connection. The central agency officials also conducted raid and search operations at the office of the personal chartered accountant of Shankar Adhya.