The Kolkata Police on Sunday said that they recovered cash worth Rs 2 crore along with diamond- studded gold ornaments from the residence of a businessman in a housing complex at Shibpur here.
The raid was carried out on Saturday. The city police said that the businessman, Sailesh Pande’s two bank deposits of Rs 20 crore have been frozen. The value of the ornaments seized in this connection is yet to be ascertained.
A city police official said that the recovery has been done relating to an investigation in a purported fraud in the name of arranging bank loans. The cops of Hare Street Police under the central division of Kolkata Police started the investigation on the basis of a written complaint by the branch authorities of a private sector bank about multiple fictitious transactions of huge amounts from the two accounts.
On the basis of the probe, first the police blocked and freezed the deposits worth Rs 20 crore in the two bank accounts. And on Saturday night, the raid and search operations at Sailesh Pande’s residence at Riverdale housing complex was conducted. Pande is in police custody now, though the other members of his family are absconding.
Huge cash recovery in connection with different financial embezzlement matters has been a regular feature in the state since July this year. First, it was the Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths, who in July this year, recovered cash and gold from the two residences of Arpita Mukherjee, close aide of former West Bengal education minister, Partha Chatterjee in connection with the multi- crore West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment irregularities scam. Both Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee are under judicial custody now.
Then again on September 10, the ED sleuths recovered huge cash from the residence of a city- based businessman at Garden Reach area in Kolkata in connection with a probe on E-Nuggets, a mobile gaming app fraud. The prime accused in the matter, Amir Khan is in police custody.