The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday morning (22nd May) conducted multiple raids at various locations across West Bengal in connection with an extortion racket linked with former Kolkata Police Deputy Commissioner Santanu Sinha Biswas and a wanted criminal Biswajit Podder alias Sona Pappu.
As per reports, the raids started around 6 am at properties, including a hotel on Roy Street in Kolkata, along with the house of another Kolkata Police sub-inspector. A team of ED officials arrived at the residence of Biswas, located in Kandi town of Murshidabad district, but found it locked. The ED team broke open the lock and entered the house to search.
This comes after the arrest of Biswas by the ED on 14th May after he did not cooperate in the investigation and withheld information. He had skipped multiple summons issued by the ED before appearing before the agency in Kolkata. Biswas has also served as the Inspector-in-Charge (IC) of Kalighat Police Station in Kolkata. Biswas’s sister, Gauri Sinha Biswas, is currently the Vice-Chairperson of Kandi Municipality.
Subsequently, on 18th May, Sona Pappu was arrested by the ED following several rounds of interrogation. According to the ED, Sona Pappu ran the extortion racket along with businessman Jay Kamdar. The agency suspects that Biswas facilitated the operations of the extortion racket.
It is reported that Pappu was also wanted in connection with an incident of violence in South Kolkata and had been absconding for about three months. He appeared before the investigative agency after being served multiple summons. Several charges, including extortion, rioting, attempted murder, criminal conspiracy, and violations under the Arms Act, have been levelled against Pappu.
ED’s earlier raids
Earlier, on 19 April, the ED had conducted raids at properties linked to Biswas, including his residence in Ballygunge and his flat located at Fern Road. Raids were also conducted at properties linked to Jay Kamdar in Behala. Several important documents were reportedly discovered by the ED officials during the raids. In a separate raid conducted on 1st April, the ED seized ₹1.47 crore in cash, gold and silver worth over Rs 67 lakh, and a country-made revolver.
This is not the first time that Biswas has faced scrutiny. Earlier, he was summoned by the ED’s Delhi office in connection with an illegal coal mining case, but did not appear. He is also facing investigation in ongoing probes, including alleged irregularities in admissions under the NRI quota in private medical institutions like KPC Medical College.
During the recent assembly elections in West Bengal, the BJP had requested the Election Commission to transfer the then-DCP Biswas, Bijitaswa Routh (IC) and Rahul Amin Ali Shah (SI) of Kolkata Police out of the state. The BJP had said that the three individuals appealed for ensuring the victory of Mamata Banerjee and the ruling TMC party at the State Conference of the West Bengal Police Welfare Committee.
