Ration scam: Am unwell, says arrested Bengal minister Jyotipriya Mallick

Kolkata : The confidence displayed by arrested West Bengal Minister Jyotipriya Mallick just four days back about coming out clean in the multi-crore ration scam seemed missing on Monday.

"I am not well at all," said a visibly shaken state forest minister and former state food & supplies minister while being brought out of Enforcement Directorate (ED)'s Salt Lake office for being presented at a special court in Kolkata. His reaction on Monday was a total study in contrast to what he displayed just four days back while he was being brought out of ED's office for medical check-up.

"Just wait for four days and I will be free. I have been framed by the BJP. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee are aware of everything," said a confidant Mallick, who had been arrested recently by ED sleuths on charges of his alleged involvement in the ration distribution case in West Bengal.

However, his comments backfired and the Trinamool Congress leadership started distancing itself from him. While party Lok Sabha member Kalyan Bandopadhyay openly criticised Mallick for dragging the chief minister and Abhishek Banerjee in the matter, another party MP Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said that the party will not take responsibility for any irregularity on part of anyone at personal level.

Now the question that is floating around in the corridors of power is whether Mallick's loss of confidence of early relief from the case within just four days is because of understanding that the party leadership is not with him in this moment of crisis.

Now all eyes are on the proceedings in the matter at the special court on Monday afternoon, especially the substantiating evidence that the central agency counsel will present at the court.