The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday raided the residence of Trinamul Congress leader and former Bongaon municipality chairman Shankar Adhya, who had been earlier arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the multi-crore ration distribution case.

A Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) team with a large contingent of central forces also accompanied the CBI team there. Meanwhile, the CBI team also reached the residence of current Bongaon municipality chairman Gopal Seth’s residence to ask him for the video footage of his house on the night of 5 January. Gopal, however, said that he has no storage of video footage of 5 January as usually storage of footage empties within 25 days.

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On the night of 5 January, when an ED team was taking Adhya into custody from his residence at Bangaon in North 24-Paragans district, his aides in the area had prevented the agency officers and the accompanying CAPF personnel from taking him away. Earlier on the same day, ED and CAPF teams were attacked at Sandeshkhali in the same district.

Now, with the Calcutta High Court giving the nod to the CBI to probe both the cases of attack on ED and CAPF teams at Sandeshkhali and Bangaon, a CBI team on Monday morning reached the residence of Adhya, who is presently in judicial custody. Last week, the CBI had gone to the residence of now-suspended Trinamul leader Sheikh Shahjahan, the accused mastermind behind the attack on ED and CAPF teams, which left three agency officers injured. Shahjahan is currently in CBI custody.

Both Shahjahan and Adhya are known to be close to former food & supplies minister Jyotipriya Mallick, who was also arrested by the ED last year in the ration distribution case. Mallick is presently in judicial custody. Adhya is accused of playing a key role in diverting the scam proceeds by first converting them into foreign currencies through multiple entities dealing in foreign exchange, and parking them abroad, mainly in Dubai and Bangladesh, through the hawala route.

Meanwhile, the CBI team has started interrogation of Jiauddin Mollah, the head of the Sarberia Agarpara gram panchayat in connection with the attack on ED team during the raid at Sheikh Shahjahan’s residence. Several other persons were also summoned by the CBI in this connection.