Kolkata, Nov 16 (PTI) A court on Thursday extended till November 30 the judicial custody of West Bengal minister Jyoti Priya Mallick, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with its probe into the alleged ration distribution scam.
Mallick, who currently holds the forest portfolio and is a former minister for food and supplies, was apprehended by the ED in the early hours of October 27 from his residence in Salt Lake area, on the eastern fringes of Kolkata.
ED’s counsel prayed that Mallick’s judicial remand be extended since the investigation into the alleged scam was in its early stages.
The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM), Calcutta, (in-charge), granted the ED’s prayer and extended Mallick’s judicial custody till November 30.
The minister, who held the food and supplies portfolio from 2011 to 2021, was produced before the court through the virtual mode as according to the correctional home doctor he was not medically fit for physical production.
The ED has claimed to have found his links with one Bakibur Rahaman, who was arrested in the case in early October.
