PK Haldar names several influentials from Bangladesh, India: ED

A Kolkata court on Tuesday ordered to keep six people, including erstwhile NRB Global Bank’s former managing director Prashanta Kumar Halder alias PK Halder, in judicial custody for another 14 days for interrogation in a money laundering case.

Judge Jeevan Kumar Sadhu of the special court under the Kolkata Municipal Court of West Bengal passed the order after the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) produced them before the court, seeking 14 days afresh for further interrogation, according to Bangladeshi and Indian media reports.

PK Halder and his brother Pranesh Kumar Halder, Swapan Mistry alias Swapan Maitra, Uttam Mistry alias Uttam Maitra, Imam Hossain alias Imon Halder, and Amana Sultana alias Sharmi were produced before the court after expiry of their 14-day interrogation at the jail custody.

The court, however, ordered the ED to produce the accused before the court again on July 20.

Lawyers of the directorate told the court that during interrogation, PK Halder mentioned names of at least three influential businessmen of Bangladesh as well as some individuals of West Bengal.

Lawyer Arijit Chakraborty told the media that the names PK Haldar and his associates revealed during interrogation might be included in the charge sheet.

He said the charge sheet will be submitted before the court by July 20.

During the earlier hearing in the court, the Directorate of Enforcement said that they found wealth worth Tk 300 crore and 88 bank accounts of PK Halder and his associates in India. It also found seven luxurious flats and 40 properties in Malaysia.

PK Halder, the mastermind of a Tk 10,000 crore banking scam in Bangladesh, fled from Bangladesh in 2019. He was arrested by the India’s economic intelligence agency along with five other Bangladeshis in Ashoknagar of West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district on May 14.