Enforcement Directorate arrests prominent Kolkata businessman in 'ration scam'

After conducting a search operation for more than 24 hours, the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday arrested businessman Biswajit Das in a money laundering case linked to an alleged ration distribution scam in Bengal.

The ED began searches at the residence of influential businessman Biswajit Das in Salt Lake, Kolkata, on Tuesday morning. Initially, Das was not at home. ED officials contacted Das over the phone, and he arrived at night. Then, they started questioning him along with the search.

The questioning lasted until this morning. Following this, the central probe agency, placed him under arrest. ED sources claim that the businessman wasn’t cooperating, and several discrepancies were found in his answers during the investigation.

Das has a huge import-export business and is also a reputed jeweller. His original residence is located in Bongaon, in the North 24 Parganas district, where the ED conducted a raid a few weeks back and arrested Shankar Adhya, a Trinamool Congress leader and former chairman of Bongaon Municipality. Das is said to be a close associate of the arrested TMC leader.

The ED interrogated the Shankar Adhya in jail a few days back, and family members of the arrested leader were also questioned by the agency. Sources claim that during these interrogations, the name of businessman Biswajit Das came up, following which the raid was launched at his residence to investigate his role in the ration distribution scam.

ED sources claim that crores of money earned from this corruption may have been laundered through Das’ business. The arrested businessman will be produced before the special court in Kolkata, and the agency will seek his custody for further interrogation.

With inputs from Arindam Bhattacharya