ED Ramps Up Raids on Sona Pappu, Ex-Kolkata DCP

Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate on Friday conducted fresh searches at several premises in West Bengal as part of its money laundering probe linked to former Kolkata Police DCP Shantanu Sinha Biswas and Sona Pappu, allegedly alias Biswajit Poddar, who was arrested earlier, officials said.

They said a total of nine premises were raided, including Kolkata’s Kasba, Chakraberia and Royd Street areas and Biswas’s ancestral residence in Murshidabad’s Kandi.

The premises include Mohammad Ali alias Max Raju, Biswas’s nephew Saurav Adhikari and Biswas’s “close associate” named Ruhil Amin Ali, who is a Kolkata Police Sub-Inspector.

An official said fresh raids were launched based on information collected during the interrogation of Sona Pappu and Biswas, both of whom were detained in the ED.

“Several properties linked to individuals who allegedly facilitated illegal land transactions and financial transactions are being sought. Documents, digital devices and financial records are being examined,” he said.

In South Kolkata’s Chakraberia area, ED detectives searched the house of a businessman believed to be close to Poddar, the official said, adding that investigators were probing his alleged role in forcible land acquisition and illegal monetary transactions.

An emergency team also searched a hotel in the Royd Street area after questioning its manager. Another official said that the owner of the facility was also asked to appear before the inspector.

In Kasba, ED detectives raided the house of Kolkata Police SI Ruhil Amin Ali, a former officer of the police welfare committee.

Ali was allegedly linked to business ventures linked to Biswas’s wife, the ED official said.

Investigators are looking into whether the police officer had any role in the alleged land-related irregularities, he added.

Search operations are continuing at Biswas’s ancestral house located in Ward No. 8 of Kandi Municipality in Murshidabad district. The house is reportedly occupied by his sister Gauri Sinha Biswas, who is also the vice president of the civic body.

Emergency Services officials said the house remained locked for about a week.

After waiting for about two hours on Friday morning, emergency services broke the lock and entered the building to carry out the search operation.

Poddar was arrested by the ED on May 18 after interrogation. Biswas was held last week and a businessman named Joy S. Kamdar was arrested in this case in April.

The ED had earlier said that Poddar was a “history document” and that he and his associates were wanted in cases related to land grabbing in West Bengal.

His name first appeared prominently in connection with violent clashes at the Ballygunge railway yard in 2015. Investigators said multiple criminal complaints against Poddar later emerged, including a murder case in 2017 and an alleged assault on rival Munna Pandey outside the Presidential Prison in 2021.