Kolkata, Aug 1 (IANS): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials investigating the ration distribution case in West Bengal have secured specific clues of overseas business links of Abdul Barik Biswas, a suspect in the case and also a Trinamool Congress associate.
The ED officials, accompanied by Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel, on Tuesday conducted a marathon raid and search operation at the three residences of Biswas at Basirhat, Rajarahat and Barasat, all in North 24 Paragans district, in connection with the case
During the operation, sources said, besides unaccounted cash of Rs 20 lakh, several incriminating documents were also seized from Biswas’s Rajarhat residence.
Now after a close examination of the documents, the Dubai links of the business entities owned by him have been traced. Among the documents seized from the residences of Biswas, 22 were related to the purchase of different properties, the sources said.
The investigating officials, according to sources, are now trying to go deeper into the matter to identify the sources of funds for purchasing the property. The ED officials have already summoned Biswas to be present at the agency’s Salt Lake office in the northern outskirts of Kolkata by Friday afternoon.
Biswas has a past criminal record and was arrested and jailed for alleged association with gold smuggling. After being released on bail, he started multiple businesses like rice mill, cola trading, brick kiln and transport.
Biswas was known as an extremely close confidant of former state Food & Supplies Minister Jyotipriya Mallick, who is currently in judicial custody.
Biswas is also well-connected with the ruling Trinamool Congress through his family members. His elder brother Ghulam was an elected member of the North 24 Parganas Zilla Parishad from 2013 to 2018. Ghulam's wife Safiza Begum replaced him in the 2018 panchayat polls.
Meanwhile, two other persons, at whose rice mill ED conducted a parallel raid and search operation on Tuesday, were at the ED’s Salt Lake office on Thursday afternoon reportedly with paper documents that they were asked to bring.
One of them is Trinamool Congress’ block president at Deganga in North 24 Parganas district Anisur Rahaman a.k.a. Bidesh and the other is his younger brother Alif Nur a.k.a. Mukul.
On Tuesday, a team of ED officials conducted marathon raids and search operations at the PG High Tech Rice Mill at Berachampa under the Deganga community development block in North 24 Parganas district, an entity owned by Bidesh and Mukul.
These two brothers, as revealed through investigation, are also the cousins of businessman Bakibur Rahman, the first to be arrested by the ED officials in the ration distribution case.