The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday questioned Avijit Das and Amit Dey, the former and present personal assistants of arrested forest minister Jyotipriya Mallick for several hours in connection with the alleged ration scam during his tenure as food and supplies minister.

Both Das and Dey were questioned by the central agency in an attempt to find out about those who met him regularly and how some of the files would move from one cell to another within the department of food and supplies during Mallick’s tenure.

A diary with “Balu”, Mallick’s nickname, on it and bearing details of alleged monetary transactions related to irregularities in the public distribution system has been recovered from Das’s house, the investigators told the court on Friday afternoon.

Hours later, even as 66-year-old Mallick remained admitted to a private hospital off EM Bypass, a team of officers interrogated the two personal assistants separately at the ED office in Salt Lake to find out about how the alleged transactions took place between different “parties” engaged with the public distribution system and those who allegedly stood to benefit from these deals.

“The proceeds of crime from the alleged irregularities in the public distribution system, running into several crores, appear to have travelled a web of transactions with multiple beneficiaries and several accounts. The attempt is to try and trace the pathway,” said a senior ED official.

One of the alleged beneficiaries, Bakibur Rahman, a Calcutta-based businessman who was arrested earlier, was produced in Bankshall court during the day.

At the end of Bakibur’s term in the ED’s custody the court remanded him in judicial custody till November 11.

Senior ED officials, who questioned Bakibur, claimed that mill owners used to receive full amounts as payment from the state government for supplying wheat and other items. While supplying to the distributors, they would allegedly tweak the volume of items. A kilo of wheat would be supplied with at least 200 grams less for instance, the officers said, while explaining how Bakibur possibly made properties and assets worth close to Rs 100 crore riding on his proximity with Mallick, who was the minister in charge of the department from 2011 to 2021.

Investigators said it appeared that a part of Bakibur's money was invested to produce a Bengali film with several prominent Tollywood faces.

“We would have attempted a face-to-face interrogation of Mallick and Bakibur on Friday. But the minister reported ill and was hospitalised,” the officer said.

At the private healthcare facility, Mallick underwent a series of tests on Saturday after being diagnosed with hyperglycemia, renal impairment, hypertension and other ailments.

“The patient underwent further cardiology and neurology evaluation and has also been referred for diabetes and cervical spine evaluation. The patient is on a soft diabetic diet and is at present in a stable condition,” said a hospital release on Saturday evening.

Mallick — the food and supplies minister for a decade from 2011 — was arrested from his Salt Lake home in the small hours of Friday. He collapsed at Bankshall court in the same afternoon.