KOLKATA: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday arrested Santanu Sinha Biswas, deputy commissioner (DC) of Kolkata Police, after grilling him for more than 10 hours at the agency’s CGO Complex office in Salt Lake in connection with an alleged fraud and extortion case.
Biswas will be produced before a court on Friday.
Biswas, a former officer-in-charge of Kalighat Police Station considered close to former chief minister Mamata Banerjee, had been summoned multiple times by the ED in connection with his alleged links to businessman Biswajit Poddar, alias Sona Pappu, but repeatedly evaded appearing before the agency despite fresh notices.
Sona Pappu is allegedly close to the Trinamool Congress.
While examining Sona Pappu’s bank accounts, the ED reportedly came across suspicious financial transactions linked to Sinha Biswas.
The central investigating agency gathered more inputs related to the DC following the arrest of businessman Joy Kamdar from the Behala area in the southern part of Kolkata.
Pappu and his associates allegedly used force to seize disputed land, illegally constructed high-rise buildings with the alleged help of municipal authorities and siphoned off the proceeds to key figures in the administration.
A lookout circular was issued across airports and Border Security Force (BSF) outposts to prevent Sinha Biswas from leaving the country.
On April 19, the ED carried out raids at three locations, including his residences on Fern Road in the Ballygunge area and Kamdar’s residence in Behala, but he was not present at either of his houses during the searches.
His two sons, Sayantan and Manish, were also summoned by the ED, but they did not turn up.
