Bihar fodder scam accused also active in Bengal ration scam: ED

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) probing the West Bengal ration scam has found that the alleged mastermind and prime accused in Bihar’s fodder scam case three decades back who had admitted giving bribes to the then Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav, have links with the ration corruption scam in West Bengal in which former Food & Supplies Minister Jyoti Priya Mallick has been arrested by the agency, sources said.

ED sources claimed that Dipesh Chandak and Hitesh Chandak, two directors of Ankit India Limited, the company whose name came up in the ration scandal probe, were arrested by the CBI in 1996 as prime accused in the Bihar fodder corruption case. Later they were released after they turned approvers in that case. ED sources said that Dipesh Chandak had given a statement that he had given Rs 60 crore to the then Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav.

The ED sources claimed that Dipesh and Hitesh Chandak were found to be “close” to West Bengal’s former Food & Supplies Minister Jyoti Priya Mallick. The central agency claimed that the Chandaks’ rice mills and flour mills used to sell PDS supplies meant for the poor people of West Bengal in the open market.

Recently, ED officials conducted raid and search operations at the offices and residences of the directors of Ankit India Ltd, owned by the Chandaks, which was authorized by the West Bengal Food & Supplies Department to distribute FCI wheat to ration shops. Sources claimed that rice and wheat used to come from the godowns of central agency FCI to the Chandaks’ mills.

The source also claimed that the Chandaks’ complicity in the PDS scam became evident when investigation revealed that the company would sell the rice and flour in the open market after being packaged through this company.

Sources said that the name of Chandak cropped up during the course of interrogations of the present and former personal assistant of the ED sleuths in this connection. The Chandak brothers were found to have been close to the arrested former Food & Supplies Minister Jyoti Priya Mallick.

The Enforcement Directorate also circulated an official media release about the arrest of Jyoti Priya Mallick. The release stated that investigations had revealed that approximately 30% of PDS ration intended for Priority Households (PHH), RSKY and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) beneficiaries was diverted to the open market and the proceeds of crime generated from the same were shared between the millers and the PDS distributors.