On Thursday, the Enforcement Directorate, issued a summons to Bengali actress Rituparna Sengupta, requesting her appearance before its officers on 5 June in relation to the investigation into the alleged ration distribution scam in West Bengal.

Ms. Sengupta has been asked to appear before ED officers at the agency's office in Kolkata, an officer said.

"She needs to appear before our officers on June 5 morning,” the ED official told PTI.

Sengupta was questioned by the ED in 2019 in connection with its probe into the Rose Valley chit-fund scam.

According to ED sources, the initial investigation revealed that the money earned from the ration scam was utilised in the Bengali film industry. The ED officers instructed Sengupta to come to the office at Nizam Palace with the account details of her films.

According to investigators, during the second term of the Mamata Banerjee government (2016-21), an influential businessman named Bakibur Rahman supplied rice and wheat to fair price shop distributors in quantities less than mandated. The remaining grain was then sold on the open market for profit.

Earlier on October 14, the ED arrested Bakibur Rahaman from his residence at Kaikhali on the outskirts of Kolkata.

Officials said that Rahman is alleged to have close links with Forest Minister Jyotipriya Mallick who was also arrested by the Central agency on October 27, after a 22-hour-long interrogation.

Mallick, who served as the food and supplies minister from 2016 to 2021, was the first Trinamool Congress leader to be arrested in connection with the scam. Following the backlash over the PDS scam, Mallick was replaced by Rathin Ghosh in 2021 during Mamata Banerjee's successive term.

Investigators allege that Rahman had close ties with Mallick. Rahman reportedly supplied rice and wheat to distributors in lesser quantities, selling the remaining grain on the open market for profit.

Later the ED arrested former Trinamool Congress strongman Sheikh Shahjahan from residence and recovered arms and ammunition. He is now in judicial custody.

In 2019, actress Rituparna Sengupta was interrogated by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the Rose Valley ponzi scam. According to sources, Sengupta had allegedly accompanied Rose Valley Group chairman Gautam Kundu on several foreign trips and assisted him in the sale and production of films.

Image source: Facebook