Prison authorities should ensure that Biswajit Poddar, alias Sona Pappu, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in alleged land-grabbing cases, is offered proper treatment for his health ailments, his lawyer told a court on Thursday.

Poddar was arrested on May 18 when he turned up to face interrogators at the ED’s office in CGO Complex in Salt Lake after evading summons for nearly three months.

“My client has several ailments, and the jail authorities must ensure he gets proper treatment for his health while in judicial custody,” Poddar’s lawyer told the court.

“He should get his medicines on time.”

Poddar’s name first surfaced after a violent clash and firing in Kankulia, an area near Golpark, on February 1.

Within days of the incident, a team of ED officials conducted a search-and-seizure operation at Poddar’s Fern Road house.

Poddar has maintained that he has not been involved in any incident of alleged land grabbing.

His name re-surfaced a few days back when an elderly couple approached chief minister Suvendu Adhikari during his last outreach programme — Janatar Darbare — and alleged that Poddar and Kamdar, a Behala-based realtor, had cheated them.

On Thursday, ED’s counsel told the court that the agency sought judicial custody of Poddar at the end of his interrogation period.

The central agency earlier said that a syndicate comprising Poddar, Kamdar, and a section of police officers used to ensure that land parcels and properties were bought at a price much lower than the prevailing rate.

The agency alleged that the arrested police officer, Santanu Sinha Biswas, was a part of this syndicate.

“There were financial transactions between Biswajit Poddar and firms of Kamdar,” an ED official said.