3 min readApr 25, 2026 10:58 AM IST
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday conducted searches at nine locations in West Bengal as part of a money-laundering probe into the alleged large-scale diversion of Public Distribution System (PDS) wheat meant for welfare schemes.
The searches were carried out at the residences of three businessmen in Habra in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district. ED sources identified the businessmen as rice traders Sagar Saha, Partha Saha, and Samir Chandra Kumar, and said that officials, accompanied by central forces, were conducting the searches at five locations in Habra, three locations in Burdhwan, and one in Kolkata.
According to the central agency, the searches are being conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at premises linked to suppliers and exporters linked to businessman Nirajan Chandra Saha.
The development comes days after the first phase of the Assembly elections in the state on April 23. The second phase of polling will be held on April 29.
The ED had initiated its investigation in this case based on a First Information Report (FIR) dated October 23, 2020, registered at Basirhat police station on the complaint of the deputy commissioner of Customs, Ghojadanga LCS, alleging large-scale diversion of PDS wheat.
During the investigation, it was allegedly revealed that the accused had adopted a systematic modus operandi to divert PDS wheat. The wheat was allegedly procured at low prices through unauthorised channels, in collusion with suppliers, licensed distributors, dealers, and middlemen. Large quantities were illegally diverted from the supply chain and aggregated at multiple locations, it was allegedly revealed. To conceal its origin, the accused allegedly removed or reversed the original gunny bags bearing Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state government markings and refilled them, thereby hiding identifying features and passing off the PDS wheat as legitimate stock for further sale in the open market or export, resulting in the undue enrichment of the accused and the generation of proceeds of crime, as per the ED.
A few months before the 2021 Assembly elections, 175 vehicles of rice and wheat were allegedly being smuggled into Bangladesh through the Ghojadanga border in Basirhat, when the consignment was seized. Following the incident, ED officials conducted a search at the house of rice trader Niranjan Saha in Habra.
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The ED arrested TMC minister Jyotipriya Mallick, the former state food and supplies minister and later forest minister, on October 27, 2023, regarding an alleged Rs 9,000–Rs 10,000 crore ration distribution scam. Following his arrest, he was accused of funnelling kickbacks through family members’ companies and was granted bail in January 2025 after 14 months in custody.
