West Bengal ration case: ED arrests TMC leader Shankar Adhya

Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths arrested heavyweight North 24 Parganas district Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Shankar Adhya on late Friday night in connection with the multi-crore ration distribution case in West Bengal.

Adhya, also the former chairman of Bongaon municipality in the same district, has been brought to the ED’s office in Salt Lake in north-eastern Kolkata.

He will first be taken to a hospital for a medical check-up and then presented at a special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court in Kolkata on Saturday afternoon, where the central agency's counsel will seek ED custody.

This is the third arrest by the ED in the ration distribution case, the first being Kolkata-based businessman Bakibur Rahaman, and the second being state forest minister and former state food supplies minister Jyotipriya Mallick. Adhya, like Rahaman, is known to be a close confidante of Mallick.

ED sleuths escorted by armed CAPF (Central Armed Police Forces) personnel began conducting massive raid and search operations on Friday morning at Adhya’s residence in Bongaon. The sleuths did not have to face violent resistance here, unlike their colleagues who attempted a simultaneous raid and search operation at TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan's residence in Sandeshkhali on Friday morning, in which three ED officials were injured.

After a marathon raid and search operation that began on Friday morning and continued until late into the night, the ED finally arrested Adhya. ED investigators also recovered unaccounted cash of Rs 4.5 lakh from his residence.