PK Halder placed on 3-day remand in Kolkata

A court in Kolkata placed former managing director of NRB Global Bank P K Halder (Prashanta Kumar Halder) on a three-day remand.

A remand plea was filed with a court in North 24 Parganas on Saturday (14 May) which was granted on Sunday (15 May), according to various media outlets.

PK Halder along with five of his associates, including his wife, his brother, and his lawyer Sukumar was arrested in India on Saturday.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), an investigative agency of the Indian finance ministry, on Friday raided 10 locations in North and South 24 Parganas of Bengal to nab them, who cheated multiple banks in Bangladesh of several hundred crore Bangladeshi taka and siphoned off the money to India.

All the suspects had fraudulently obtained Indian citizenship papers, according the ED.

“The money siphoned from Bangladesh was used for buying a huge quantity of land and property in Bengal and Kolkata,” an ED official said.

“The money was taken as loan from various banks by companies that only exist on paper. Realising that they had been cheated, the banks informed the financial intelligence unit of the Bangladesh police that subsequently approached the Indian government,” the officer added.

Prashanta Kumar Halder (PK Halder) has been living in Bengal posing as an Indian citizen. He used the name Shibshankar Halder after procuring a ration card issued by the Bengal government, Indian voter ID card as well as PAN and Aadhar card, the ED statement said. 

His associates also managed to get similar documents, the agency found during investigation.

ED officials found that the suspects had set up companies in India on the basis of these documents and also purchased immovable property at various places, including Kolkata.

The money embezzled in Bangladesh was siphoned to other countries as well, the statement said.