ED identifies 1,000 rice and wheat mills in Bengal ration distribution case

Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials, who are probing the ration distribution case in West Bengal, have prepared a list of around 1,000 rice and wheat mills which were directly or indirectly involved in the scam.

Sources said the list was prepared based on their links with those already arrested and currently in judicial custody for their involvement in the alleged scam, including the former West Bengal food and supplies minister Jyotipriya Mallick.

Sources said that in the scam, a major portion of the good items procured for distribution under the fair-price system was sent to these rice and wheat mills, who were subsequently responsible for selling them at premium prices in the open markets or corporate entities engaged in the marketing of packaged rice or packaged wheat.

ED officials said that in due course owners of some of these rice and wheat mills will be questioned for authentication of the documents already seized on this count by the investigating officials.

Sources said that the main brains behind the alleged scam plotted a two-tier profit-making theory in the entire process. First, through their confidant, they floated some fake farmers' cooperatives and through these entities procured grains from the farmers at prices lower than the minimum support price (MSP).

In the next tier, the same food items, which were supposed to be sold through the fair price shops were sold at premium prices in the open markets or entities engaged in selling packaged food marketing business.

Because of this multi-tier scam process, sources said, the proceeds collected in the process were huge. ED has already informed a special court of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Kolkata that a prima facie investigation has revealed that the total amount involved in the ration distribution case is to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore, an amount which might increase as the investigation proceeds.