The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday filed its first chargesheet against suspended Kolkata police deputy commissioner Shantanu Sinha Biswas in the multi-crore property-grabbing and illegal land deals case, stating that he has not cooperated during interrogation since his arrest on May 14, an official of the federal agency said, requesting anonymity.
“The chargesheet under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was filed at the special ED court in Kolkata,” the official said.
The land transactions surfaced weeks before the recent Assembly polls in which the Trinamool Congress was ousted by the Bharatiya Janata Party. Sinha Biswas was in charge of then chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s security till May 4, when the poll results were declared. He cited this job profile to skip ED summons on five occasions before being arrested. Earlier, he was the officer-in-charge of the Kalighat police station, which has jurisdiction over Banerjee’s residence.
The ED is probing Sinha Biswas’s suspected connections with Biswajit Poddar alias Sona Pappu, an alleged land grabber with political connections who was arrested by the agency on May 19, and the third principal suspect, Kolkata-based businessman Jay S. Kamdar, who was arrested on April 20.
After interrogating the three accused, who remain in custody, the ED said in a statement in June that Shantanu Sinha Biswas “appears to have facilitated Jay S. Kamdar in his illegal activities in exchange for monetary benefits for himself and his family members. Investigation has also revealed that Shantanu Sinha Biswas was the chief coordinator and nodal officer of the West Bengal and Kolkata Police Welfare Committees (now dissolved), a unique position offering considerable influence over a substantial number of police officers.”
“Investigation has also revealed that Jay S. Kamdar wielded considerable clout and influence among a section of police officers and misused it for getting favours and lodging complaints against unsuspecting individuals in land-related matters. The documents and digital evidence seized show that Jay S. Kamdar and his associates have been habitually engaging in a systematic and premeditated course of conduct with the intention to unlawfully acquire valuable immovable properties from lawful owners,” the ED said.
“ED’s investigation under PMLA has so far revealed that proceeds of crime were generated through illegal activities including extortion, grabbing of real estate properties, and unauthorised building construction through entities controlled by Biswajit Poddar alias Sona Pappu, Jay Kamdar and his associates,” the ED said.
