The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday arrested Biswajit Das, a businessman and resident of Salt Lake, for his alleged involvement in irregularities in the public distribution system.
Das was picked up 24 hours after a team from the central agency raided his house.
“Das is close to Sankar Addhya, a former chairman of Bongaon Municipality in North 24-Parganas, who is in custody in connection with the scam,” an ED official said.
Das was involved in siphoning off proceeds of the crime, officials said. Originally from Bongaon, he allegedly helped Addhya park money abroad and received cuts in return.
“Das was not cooperating while being questioned by our team. He was evading our questions,” an ED official said.
“There are reasons to believe that he was among those who were involved in the irregularities in the public distribution system of Bengal.”
Das’s arrest was the fourth by the ED in the case. Among those behind bars is Trinamul Congress minster Jyotipriya Mallik.
“Das owns a jewellery shop and also runs an export-import firm and another company that deals in foreign exchange,” an ED official said.
Das was apparently out of the city when the ED team turned up at his home in IB Block in Salt Lake on Tuesday morning. Officials of the agency called him up and asked him to return to the city at the earliest.
When Das returned in the evening, he was escorted from the airport to his Salt Lake home. At his home, officers questioned him about his businesses and sought documents supporting his claims.
“We wanted him to clarify several things, including details of certain transactions that were made over the past year and a half,” the official said.
ED officers had said earlier that Addhya had transferred close to Rs 20,000 crore in the past few years through a clutch of foreign exchange companies. Most of the money, the ED said, is now parked abroad.
Addhya’s family members were directors of several of these forex companies and many of the transactions made by the firms were illegal.
Addhya’s lawyers have denied the allegations in court.
“Biswajit Das allegedly had a key role in helping Addhya siphon off a part of the amount abroad,” an ED officer said. “We have recovered several documents from his house that will be examined. The documents may prove crucial in tracing the path of the proceeds of the crime.”
