Bangladeshi citizen with expired visa runs biz in Kolkata, HC orders ED probe

Kolkata: A division bench of the Calcutta High Court, on Friday, directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to investigate a case involving a Bangladeshi resident with an expired Indian visa running his business from here.

The division bench of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya has directed ED to start the investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against the Bangladeshi resident, Umashankar Agarwal.

Agarwal has been accused of residing in India with an expired visa, running business illegally and even laundering money outside India.

As per the charges, a company owned by Agarwal had invested huge funds diverted from Bangladesh in several real estate projects in West Bengal. An investigation against Agarwal has already been initiated by Kolkata Police based on the complaints filed against him in this regard.

He was arrested by the city police but was later released on bail by a lower court. Now, as per the court order, the city police will have to hand over the investigation and the case details to the ED officials.

There are allegations that the funds of the company owned by Agarwal were diverted to different cross-border smuggling rackets and even to some underground terrorist groups.

On Friday, the counsel of Agarwal claimed that his client had been falsely implicated in the case.