Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), on Monday, issued notices for interrogation to Kolkata Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Shantanu Sinha Biswas and his two sons in connection with a money-laundering syndicate linked to notorious and absconding gangster Sona Pappu.
Incidentally, on Sunday, the ED officials conducted a marathon raid and search operations at the residence of Sinha Biswas at Fern Road in South Kolkata and at a coaching centre owned by one of his sons.
Insiders aware of the development said that the investigating officials have come to know that Sinha Biswas, as the erstwhile officer-in-charge of Kalighat Police Station, under whose jurisdiction the official residence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee comes, had close connections with both Sona Pappu and a city-based promoter. Joy Kamdar, the promoter, was arrested by the ED officials on Monday.
Sources added that now the summons have been issued to Biswas and his two sons to discuss the possible financial links they had with Kamadar and Sona Pappu. ED officials have already received specific evidence of financial links between Pappu and Kamdar.
Although Kamdar was arrested by the ED officials, he could not be presented at a special court of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Kolkata on Monday. He complained of uneasiness after his arrest on Sunday night, following which he was admitted to the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata.
However, on Monday, ED’s counsel informed the PMLA court that during the last four months, a massive Rs 500 crore was deposited into Kamdar’s account. The ED counsel had also claimed in the court that Kamdar had the backing of several politically influential persons, a matter which is currently being investigated by the ED officials.
The ED had recovered about Rs 1.5 crore in cash from Kamdar’s house in an earlier raid. Several digital devices were also recovered.
Based on the information obtained from all those devices, ED had claimed that about Rs 40 crore were transferred from a registered education institution trust to the accounts of various fake organisations or shell companies.
Currently, 25 such shell entities are under the scanner of the ED officials. Investigators are investigating who floated those shell entities and how much money was transacted through these entities.
(IANS)
