Bengal ration case: Probe reveals six foreign exchange dealing entities had direct links with the arrested TMC leader or his family members
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) told a special court on Saturday that 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.
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.
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.
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 the course of the investigation in the ration distribution case.
At the end of the hearing, the special court sent Adhya to judicial custody till February 3.
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 the current medical conditions of the arrested leader do not call for his hospitalization.
[With Inputs from IANS]
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Getting bail on medical grounds and then indulging in political activities has become a standard practice, and the courts do not take sue-moto cognizance of it kind of giving it a legal sanction.