ED questions top Kolkata Police officer in connection with Merlin group land grab case
The Statesman | 14 May 2026
A deputy commissioner of Kolkata Police’s Special Branch, Shantanu Biswas, appeared before Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers at the CGO Complex in Salt Lake on Thursday morning in connection with a money laundering and land-grabbing case in West Bengal.
A day earlier, the ED had sent a letter to the state’s directorate of security seeking details about Biswas’s whereabouts. The central agency had also issued a lookout notice against him amid fears that he might flee the country.
The investigation is linked to Biswajit Poddar, also known as Sona Pappu, a history-sheeter accused of land grabbing and running an extortion network in the eastern fringes of the city.
Biswas had earlier been summoned by the ED in March in connection with a separate coal scam investigation and was asked to appear before officials in New Delhi in early April.
On April 19, ED teams carried out searches at Biswas’s residence on Fern Road in Ballygunge and at a nearby building where he reportedly owns five flats.
Raids were also conducted at the Behala residence of Joy Kamdar, Managing Director of Sun Enterprise.
Kamdar had been summoned twice in the land-grabbing case but failed to appear. He was subsequently arrested, and officials seized ₹1.2 crore in cash from his premises.
Earlier, on April 1, the agency conducted coordinated searches at six locations across Kolkata, including Poddar’s Ballygunge residence and offices of construction companies. Investigators also visited the home of Rahul Das, described as a close associate of Poddar. During one of the operations, a firearm was recovered from Poddar’s residence.
The ED is probing what it describes as a housing scam involving allegations of illegal occupation of land, unauthorised construction, and systematic extortion under the cover of property development. According to officials, the accused allegedly created forged ownership records to establish a fraudulent chain of title over land parcels. These documents were then allegedly used to commercially exploit the land and launch real estate projects.
Investigators believe the accused projected themselves as legitimate landowners to draw investments worth crores of rupees from members of the public. The agency suspects that part of the proceeds may have been diverted overseas and that funds were routed to influential individuals.
In a related development last month, the ED searched seven premises linked to the Merlin Group in connection with the same probe. The searches included the residences of promoters Sushil Mohta and his son, Saket Mohta, as well as properties on Prince Anwar Shah Road and in Salt Lake.
Officials maintain that the ongoing action forms part of a broader investigation into alleged land grabbing and financial irregularities in Kolkata’s real estate sector.