Odisha tigress in Bengal: Forest officials on tenterhooks
Hundreds of forest officials from West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha are camping in Purulia forests at the moment but the big cat, Zeenat, is still elusive.
West Bengal Minister Jyotipriya Mallick, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the ration distribution case in the state, on Friday, claimed that his health condition was deteriorating and it seemed that his limbs might become paralytic.
Mallick, the current state forest minister and former state food & supplies minister, had a brief interaction with the waiting media persons on Friday morning while he was being taken from the ED’s Salt Lake office in the northern outskirts of Kolkata for medical check-up at the defence-run Command Hospital in Kolkata.
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“I am extremely unwell. It seems that my left hand and left leg are becoming paralytic. I am going for treatment at the hospital. Will come back soon after that,” said Mallick. However, he refused to answer the different queries from the media persons on the ration distribution case.
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In the previous media interactions on similar occasions, Mallick’s body-language was quite confident and he was quite vocal of his innocence and early release from the case. However, the same body language was quite timid on Friday morning. He appeared quite shattered and sounded quite panicky about his future, especially as regards to his health conditions.
The current term of ED custody will end on November 13 and on the day he will be presented again at a special court in Kolkata.
The ED sleuths, sources said, are trying their level best to churn out as much information as possible from the arrested minister related to the ration distribution case.
In the last hearing, Mallick’s counsel surprisingly did not move any bail petition on behalf of his client. Rather the arrested minister’s counsel mainly emphasized on the theory of political conspiracy against his client.
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