The heat of the cut money agitations reached Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet as two men, from the suburbs of east Kolkata, lodged police complaints accusing Abdur Rezzak Mollah’s son of taking cut money from them. Mustaq Ahmed, son of Mollah, the Food Processing Industries and Horticulture Minister, allegedly took Rs 7 lakh from two persons. One of the complainants alleged Mustaq took RS 5 lakh to settle a land dispute and the other claimed he took Rs 2 lakh for helping him get a government subsidy to construct cold storage in the area.
In his complaint, Monirujjaman Mollah, a resident of Bhangar in South 24-Parganas, alleged Mustaq had promised to settle a land dispute issue by using his father’s influence in 2016. Lalbabu Mollah alleged he wanted to construct cold storage in the area and Mustaq assured him of government grant from his father’s department and took Rs 2 lakh.