KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday raided the residence of a Kolkata Police DCP (Special Branch), Shantanu Sinha Biswas and arrested city businessman Joy Kamdar in a moneylaundering probe linked to alleged illegal land deals and extortion. The ED action during the Bengal poll season came days after IT searches at the home of TMC candidate Debashis Kumar and Miraj Shah, one of CM Mamata Banerjee’s nomination proposers in her Bhowanipore seat. “The house of the person who looks after my security has also been raided since this morning. Do you want to kill me? They are raiding us every day. We will file cases for every single incident,” Mamata said at a rally in Tarakeshwar on Sunday. Kamdar, managing director of several firms largely in real estate, was taken into custody after questioning at ED’s office. Searches were carried out at his Behala residence; ED claimed to have recovered Rs 1.2 crore cash. He had earlier skipped two ED summons. ED sleuths also searched DCP Biswas’s Ballygunge home. A former OC of Kalighat Police Station, he was not present. His counsel termed the raids “unanticipated”. The probe stems from alleged illegal land deals and extortion by a syndicate led by history-sheeter Biswajit Podder, aka Sona Pappu. ED said a Toyota Fortuner and a US-made revolver were seized during a recent search. ED sources said illicit funds were routed through shell and front companies to integrate them into legitimate channels.
