Kolkata, May 14 : Kolkata Police Deputy Commissioner Shantanu Sinha Biswas appeared at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office here on Thursday for questioning in a criminal-linked syndicate case.

The development comes two days after the ED wrote a letter to the Directorate of Security, asking to know the status of Biswas and whether he was serving any duty. This was done to make the police officer, who had skipped multiple summons of the agency, appear before the ED officers.

The central investigation agency had summoned him several times before, including on April 28, the day before the second phase of the West Bengal Assembly election. However, Biswas did not turn up. Fearing that Biswas might leave the country, the ED finally issued a lookout notice against him.

The Deputy Commissioner of Kolkata Police was asked to appear at the CGO Complex, as part of the ED's investigation into a money laundering case against an alleged criminal-linked syndicate run by Sona Pappu alias Biswajit Poddar.

Sona Pappu, a resident of Ballygunge in south Kolkata, faces various charges, including land grabbing and extortion. There is also a case against him under the Arms Act. The ED has started an investigation in the wake of several such allegations and has already arrested businessman Joy Kamdar in that case.

Based on the information in this case, the ED raided Biswas's house on Fern Road last month, and the official was not seen in public subsequently. The day after the search, the ED summoned Biswas and his two sons, Sayantan and Manish, to the CGO complex in the Sona Pappu case. However, none of them went to the ED office that day.

Earlier, the ED had summoned Biswas, who is also a former Officer-in-Charge of Kalighat police station in Bhabanipur, for the investigation into the sand smuggling case. However, he did not appear before the ED officers. Instead, his lawyer went to the ED office. According to sources, Biwas sought time from the central investigation agency due to his busy schedule. The ED is investigating allegations of financial misappropriation in a case related to sand smuggling, and its officials wanted to question him in connection with that case also.

/IANS