West Bengal minister Jyoti Priyo Mallick, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Friday, has been admitted to a private hospital in Kolkata after being diagnosed with high blood sugar and renal issues, reported PTI.
Mallick was arrested by the central agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in connection with an alleged multicrore scam in the public distribution system. He was remanded to the Enforcement Directorate’s custody for 10 days till November 5.
The case pertains to alleged corruption in ration distribution during the Covid-19 lockdown, when Mallick was the West Bengal food minister. He presently holds the forests portfolio.
The Enforcement Directorate told the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in charge Tanumoy Karmakar that it needed to question Mallick as it had found his links with a person named Bakibur Rahaman, who was arrested in the case on October 14. Rahman is accused of having illegally sold rice and wheat from the public distribution system in the open market.
The minister fainted during the hearing, following which Karmakar allowed him to get treatment at a private hospital of his choice. He could be shifted to the Command Hospital in Kolkata later if required. The court said that the period of hospitalisation would be excluded from the period of his custody.
As per a hospital bulletin, Mallick was admitted with an initial diagnosis of hyperglycaemia, renal impairment, dyselectrolytemia and hypertension. Mallick went under a CT scan, MRI and blood tests. While his condition is currently stable, a medical team is closely monitoring him.
Following his arrest, the Trinamool Congress minister had said that he was a victim of a conspiracy hatched by the Bharatiya Janata Party and its leader Suvendu Adhikari. “The BJP is actively engaging in plotting nefarious schemes against us,” he said.
His party came out in support and termed Mallick’s arrest as “vendetta politics”. “It is an attempt by the BJP to muzzle the opposition raising pro-people issues,” said Trinamool leader Shashi Panja. “The question is why corrupt BJP leaders and turncoats who have corruption charges against them are never summoned by the ED and CBI.”
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee threatened to file a police case if anything happened to Mallick while he was in the central agency’s custody.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate froze his, his wife’s and daughter’s bank accounts. It also seized his mobile phone and sent it for a forensic examination.
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