Notice to Bengal CM’s principal secretary Gautam Sanyal, ED calls him for Metro Dairy probe

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) sent notices to Gautam Sanyal – principal secretary to the chief minister – and IAS officer BP Gopalika, former secretary in the animal resources development department, in connection with the Metro Dairy case probe.

Ahead of the Assembly elections, this is being seen as significant politically. West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has recently said at a public meeting that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government at the Centre is using the probe agencies to harass officials in the West Bengal government, and threatening and scaring them by sending them notices in various probes.

The ED is probing alleged anomalies in the Metro Dairy’s share transactions between the government and a private dairy organisation. The agency has already summoned several government officials. Trinamool Congress MLA Paras Dutta was summoned by the ED in this connection earlier, though Dutta has denied charges of anomalies.

There are allegations that there were anomalies in foreign exchange and share transactions in the Metro Diary case. In 1996, the Metro Diary was set up jointly by the West Bengal government and National Dairy Development Board. It was later turned into a subsidiary, 100 per cent owned by the Keventer Agro Ltd. In Metro Dairy, the state government used to hold 47 per cent share.

The government had allegedly sold its share to the Keventer at Rs 85 crore in 2017. In the same year, a Singapore-based company reportedly bought Metro Dairy’s 15 per cent share for Rs 170 crore.

Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Adhir Chowdhury had submitted a PIL at Calcutta High Court two years ago, in which ED was made a party. Following that the ED started an investigation into the matter and summoned some government officials for interrogation. The ED also spoke with officials in the ARD department. Anil Verma was then the secretary, and later, BP Gopalika took charge of the department. There are allegations that to facilitate the entry of the Singapore-based organisation, government officials sold their shares at a low price.

The ED has also sent notices to Bengal’s security advisor Surajit Kar Purakayastha in connection with the Saradha chit fund probe. The IPS officer retired and has been posted as the state’s security advisor since June 2018. Another retired IPS officer from Bengal, Rajat Majumdar, has also been called by the ED in connection with the Saradha probe. They have been called to the ED’s Kolkata office on March 24 and 25.