Bengal ration distribution scam: ED traces property worth over Rs 100 cr of arrested bizman

Kolkata: Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths have tracked assets and property worth over Rs 100 crore of Bakibur Rahman, the Kolkata- based businessman arrested recently by it in connection with the multi-crore ration distribution scam in West Bengal.

Agency insiders said that a total of 95 properties registered in the name of Rahman, his family members, relatives and close associates have been traced by the ED sleuths and initial calculations have revealed that the combined value of these assets will be Rs 100 crore.

Investigations have also revealed that even the properties that were registered in the name of family members, relatives and close associates, the actual investments behind it were made by Rahman himself. However, sources added, Rahman is yet to give any satisfactory answer about the sources of the funds that were invested behind such properties and assets.

The assets and properties include around 51 acres of land in several plots scattered over different pockets in the state and majority of which are in Murshidabad and North 24 Parganas district. The assets also include nine residential flats, measuring 7,000 square feet in total, registered in the name of Rahman.

Apart from that, the central agency sleuths have also traced a hotel, a high-end bar-cum-restaurant and three rice-mills owned by Rahman. Apart from that the ED has also traced two high-end residential flats in Dubai which are also registered in the name of Rahman.

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ED sleuths have got definite proof of the hawala route being adopted by the said businessman in purchasing these overseas properties. While these are the assets and properties that have surfaced, the ED sleuths believe that there are more which are yet to surface.

The central agency sleuths have also got some clues of Rahman using the bank accounts of his wife and brother-in-law to divert the proceeds. Several inward and outward remittances in extremely short intervals from these accounts have been traced by the investigating sleuths.