Former Kolkata DCP Santanu Sinha Biswas, who was once close to former West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, is in the dock in connection with a fraud and extortion case. Biswas had a fall from grace after he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on 14th May, following 10 hours of questioning at the ED’s CGO Complex office in Salt Lake.
Subsequently, his extended tenure was terminated by Kolkata Police Commissioner Ajay Nand on Friday (22nd May), the same day when ED conducted raids at his residence located in Kandi town of Murshidabad district. The ED teams conducted raids at multiple locations, including a hotel on Roy Street in Kolkata and the house of another Kolkata Police sub-inspector.
Accused of running land-grabbing and extortion rackets
Biswas, a highly influential figure in the Kolkata Police Department, came under ED’s radar when it was examining Kasba-Golpark-based criminal Pappu’s bank accounts. Pappu was arrested by the agency on 18th May following several rounds of interrogation. The agency found suspicious financial transactions linked to Biswas, who has also served as officer-in-charge of Kalighat Police Station and Hare Street Police Station.
Biswas was arrested came after he evaded multiple summons issued by the ED, which his probing his connection with a criminal, Biswajit Poddar, alias Sona Pappu and the extortion and land-grabbing cases involving him. He was summoned five times by the ED, the first summoned being served on 28th April, a day before the assembly poll in Kolkata.
The agency has accused Biswas of running a land-encroachment racket, an extortion racket, leveraging his authority to influence police-in-charge postings, and intimidating local real estate builders. After the arrest of businessman Joy Kamdar from the Behala area in the southern part of Kolkata, the ED gathered more information relating to Biswas. According to the ED, Sona Pappu ran the extortion racket along with businessman Jay Kamdar and Biswas facilitated the operations of the extortion racket.
A lookout circular was issued against Biswas
On 19th April, the ED conducted raids at properties linked to Biswas, including his residence in Ballygunge and his flat located at Fern Road but he was not found at either of his houses. His two sons, Sayantan and Manish, were also summoned by the ED, but they did not appear before the agency.
The ED also conducted searches properties linked to Jay Kamdar in Behala. During the raids, several important documents were reportedly discovered by the ED officials. 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.
Earlier in May, following the raids, the ED issued a lookout circular against Biswas cross airports and Border Security Force (BSF) outposts to prevent him from leaving the country.
Accused of attempting to influence voters
During the recent Assemby elections in West Bengal, Biswas was accused of trying to influence voters in favour of Mamata Banerjee and her party. In April 2026, the BJP submitted a letter to the Chief Election Officer (CEO), West Bengal stating that Biswas, Bijitaswa Routh (IC) and Rahul Amin Ali Shah (SI) of Kolkata Police made an appeal for ensuring the victory of their “guardian” Chief Minister Smt Mamata Banerjee and the ruling TMC party at the State Coference of the West Bengal Police Welfare Committee. The party requested the CEO to transfer the Biswas and other two police personnel out of the state till the conclusion of the assembly elections.
Other accusations against Biswas
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.
