Bangladeshi conman in Enforcement Directorate's custody

Halder allegedly embezzled over 1300 crore Taka from banks in Bangladesh and sent it to India and other countries

PK Halder being led away by ED officials.: Telegraph photo

Subhasish Chaudhuri   |   TT  |  Calcutta   |   16.05.22  : Bangladeshi national Prasanta Kumar Halder, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) along with five of his associates on Saturday in connection with a multi-million fraud case in the neighbouring country and foreign exchange violation in India, was produced before a court in Calcutta on Sunday that remanded him in custody of the ED for three days.

All the six accused were wanted by the Anti-Corruption Commission in Bangladesh in connection with the alleged multi-million fraud case. Halder allegedly embezzled over 1300 crore Taka from banks in Bangladesh and sent it to India and other countries.

ED authorities, which have been probing money laundering cases against Halder, the former MD of the Bangladesh-based NRB Global Bank Reliance Finance Limited, indicated that he would be handed over to the Bangladesh authorities under the 2016 extradition treaty.

However, this would be possible only after completion of the probe and eventual prosecution of the pending cases that include criminal offences of forgery of documents by which he fraudulently obtained Indian citizenship, an ED official in Calcutta said.

ED officials have planned to examine how Halder and his associates — particularly relatives Pritish Kumar Halder, Pranesh Kumar Halder and advisor Sukumr Mridha —  settled in Ashoknagar, North 24-Parganas, and began acquiring real estate properties in Bengal.

“We need to check if they got support from any influential person in the state who helped them get Indian citizenship fraudulently. We will also examine if money was channelised through any influential person or any other route as he has floated some companies in India also,” an ED official said.

Halder after sneaking into India in 2019 settled in Ashoknagar as Indian citizen under the name of Shibshankar Halder and introduced himself as a real estate promoter and financial expert.

ED officials came to know that his close aide Sukumar Mridha was his main logistical support in Ashoknagar.

“Sukumar was a fish trader with good local connections. His daughter and son-in-law helped Halder to a great extent. We have come to know that money has been channelised to their accounts also,” an official of the ED said.

On Friday, ED conducted raids on houses of Mridha’s and his son-in-law in Ashoknagar town. They were arrested and ED recovered several evidence from the three houses.

The ED officials sealed the residential building of Mridha located on a sprawling four-bigha plot in Manik Nagar area under ward 15 of Ashoknagar-Kalyangarh Municipal town in North 24-Parganas.

They also raided another house allegedly owned by Mridha in Building More.

Local sources said that Halder engaged Mridha as his confidant to acquire property and in the process, they got into the town’s real estate network.