With the West Bengal Assembly elections set to begin on April 23, the Enforcement Directorate escalated its crackdown on local authorities. Kolkata Police Deputy Commissioner of the Special Branch Shantanu Sinha Biswas failed to appear for official questioning at the CGO Complex by Monday afternoon following an early Sunday morning raid at his Ballygunge residence.
The agency summoned his two sons, Sayantan and Manish, for interrogation. Sayantan claimed his father was present during the Sunday raid. ED sources maintain the senior police official was missing from the property.
The rapid escalation in agency activity aligns directly with the impending West Bengal assembly polls, according to a detailed report by The Hindu. Investigators are probing a land-grabbing and extortion syndicate allegedly operated by history-sheeter Biswajit Podder, alias “Sona Pappu”.
Financial scrutiny of Podder’s bank accounts revealed suspicious transactions pointing directly to Biswas, The Times of India noted. The syndicate allegedly laundered illicit extortion funds through legitimate local businesses across the region.
The ED expanded the physical raids on Sunday to arrest Behala-based businessman Joy Kamdar, recovering ₹1.2 crore in cash from his premises. This action drew immediate condemnation from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, The Indian Express confirmed. This follows a previous April 1 search connected to the Podder syndicate that yielded ₹1.47 crore in cash, ₹67.64 lakh in gold and silver jewelry, and a firearm.
What the Sona Pappu Syndicate Probe Means for the Trinamool Congress Campaign
The timing of the raids brings sudden volatility to the West Bengal state elections. The actions against high-ranking state security personnel prompted Mamata Banerjee to publicly ask if the central government wanted to kill her. She framed the raids as politically motivated intimidation. BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari defended the central agency. He argued the ED has the authority to investigate deep-rooted corruption regardless of the election calendar. The aggressive financial seizures disrupt the local networks allegedly tied to Podder just as campaign spending reaches its peak.