ED sends 5th notice for interrogation to Sheikh Shahjahan’s brother

Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday issued yet another notice to Sheikh Sirajuddin, the younger brother of suspended Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan, in connection with illegal land grabbing at Sandeshkhali in West Bengal's North 24 Paragans district.

This was the fifth notice served by the ED to Sirajuddin, who is currently absconding. The central agency has already issued a lookout notice against him.

In the fresh notice issued on Wednesday, Sirajuddin has been asked to be present at ED’s office in Salt Lake on the outskirts of Kolkata by the afternoon on August 12.

Shahjahan and another of his younger brothers, Sheikh Alamgir, are already serving judicial custody.

Initially, they were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) before the ED also took them into custody.

In the course of the investigation, the ED has tracked two corporate firms linked to the multi-crore fish export business of Shahjahan. One of the two entities was registered in the name of Shahjahan’s daughter Sheikh Sabina, while the other was registered in the name of Sirajuddin, who was known in Sandeshkhali as a self-proclaimed homeopathy doctor.

The ED also found the proceeds of the fish export business as shown in the books of accounts of these two entities to be bogus, with only a small portion of the entire proceeds shown in the records, while a major portion of the proceeds went to Sheikh Shahjahan and his associates through the hawala route via Bangladesh.