Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths arrested heavyweight Trinamool Congress leader from North 24 Parganas district, Shankar Adhya on late Friday night in connection with the multi-crore ration distribution case in West Bengal.

Adhya, also the former chairman of the Bongaon Municipality in the same district, has been brought to the ED’s office at Salt Lake on the northern outskirts of Kolkata.

He will be first taken to a hospital for medical check-up and then presented at a special court of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Kolkata on Saturday afternoon, where the central agency counsel will seek his ED custody.

This is the third arrest by ED in the ration distribution case, the first being Kolkata-based businessman Bakibur Rahaman and the second being the current West Bengal forest minister and the former state food supplies minister Jyotipriya Mallick.

Adhya, like Rahaman, is known to be a close confidant of Mallick for a long time.

ED sleuths escorted by armed CAPF personnel started conducting massive raid and search operations on Friday morning at Adhya’s residence Bangaon. However, here the ED sleuths did not have to face resistance like another team which attempted a simultaneous raid and search operation at Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Sajahan’s residence at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district on Friday morning in which three ED officials were injured.

After a marathon raid and search operations that started on Friday morning and continued till late Friday night, the ED sleuths finally arrested Adhya. ED sleuths also recovered unaccounted cash of Rs 4.5 lakhs from his residence.

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