ED lodges new money laundering case against Sheikh Shahjahan, conducts raids

Kolkata, Feb 23 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday conducted raid and search operations at different places owned by Sheikh Shahjahan and his confidante businessmen after lodging a new money laundering case. 

Sources said the fresh case was registered after the sleuths secured crucial clues about the investments of the alleged ration distribution case proceeds in the business of pisciculture farms and export of processed fish abroad, an area of trade where Shahjahan and his associates enjoyed a virtual monopoly in Sandeshkhali.

Sources said the raid began around 9.30 a.m. Six ED teams were conducting parallel raids and search operations at six places scattered over the state capital of Kolkata, Howrah and North 24 Parganas district.

All the places, where the raid and search operations were being conducted, belonged to the businessmen involved in the export of processed fish and having close business links with Sheikh Shahjahan.

As per the latest information available, the six places where the raid and search operations were being conducted include one owned by Partha Pratim Sengupta in the Hadalpara area in Howrah district and the other is owned by Arup Shom in the Bijoygarh area in South Kolkata.

Both Sengupta and Shom, according to sources, are in the export business of processed prawn and shrimp. And have reportedly close links with Sheikh Shahjahan, the absconding Trinamool Congress leader and the accused mastermind behind the January 5 attack on ED and CAPF sleuths.

Meanwhile, the ED on Friday issued a fresh notice to Shahjahan asking him to be present at ED’s Salt Lake office in the northern outskirts of Kolkata by this week. He has ducked the previous three notices and instead approached different courts in West Bengal through his counsel with pleas for anticipatory bail.

The hearing on one such appeal at a district court in West Bengal is scheduled on Friday.

The ED had originally started its investigation in the alleged ration distribution scam by registering a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the last quarter of 2023, as a follow up of which the West Bengal Minister, Jyotipriya Mallick was arrested and raid and search operations at Shahjahan’s residence at Sandeshkhali was conducted on January 5.

After the attack on their sleuths, the ED filed a case in the Calcutta High Court demanding an independent CBI probe in the case of the attack. Now, ED has decided to tighten its noose around Shahjahan and his associates by registering a fresh case linking the alleged ration scam proceeds with the business run by them.

--IANS

src/dpb