Transporter Caught Red-Handed Repackaging Ration Items in Nadia

A transporter was detained by police on Saturday in Birnagar town, Nadia, for allegedly "packing afresh" rice and wheat flour provided by the government in bags to be sold to retailers on the open market as part of the Enforcement Directorate's continuing investigation into the "ration scam".

Residents of Charakpara, Birnagar, apprehended Prasanta Roy on Saturday morning while he was "transferring flour and rice from bags supplied by the state food and supplies department to other sacks secretly inside a banana orchard." Roy was a part-time transporter and was allegedly a middleman between ration distributors and private retailers.

Based on accounts, the banana orchard belongs to Prasanta.

More than 150 bags of rice and more than 400 sacks containing packets of fortified whole meal flour were seized by the police. It has been alleged that these goods were intended only for distribution and sale among the local ration stores.

Prasanta's actions as a ration item carrier were dubious for a time. A few days before, he had been questioned by police over ration theft. We saw him cutting atta packages intended for delivery via ration stores today (Saturday) and stuffing the contents into bags. About 500 packed bags of rice and flour were discovered. We questioned him about why he was repackaging ration supplies, but he did not respond," a local citizen said.

After informing the police, they took the transporter into custody.

Several hundred bags with the logos of regional companies were taken from the location. According to the authorities, these bags were used to smuggle goods from ration stores into the neighborhood retail marketplaces.

According to police sources, Prasanta had a close relationship with wholesalers who repacked ration supplies before selling them to independent merchants.

The state food and civil supplies department has ordered an investigation into the event, which takes place against the background of the current ED inquiry and the arrest of former food and supplies minister Jyoti Priya Mallick.

"I directed senior officials of the department to examine the seized packets to confirm if they were meant for ration shops," current food and supply minister Rathin Ghosh said in an interview with The Telegraph. Additionally, they'll investigate how Prasanta, the guy, obtained the shipment.

When visiting the location on Saturday, Ranaghat BJP MP Jagannath Sarkar said, "The ED rightly said that a big part of ration items was being diverted to the open market."

The BJP MP further claimed that without the assistance of Trinamul leaders, the police, and officials from the food and supply department, the whole operation would not have been feasible.