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Santanu Sinha Biswas, a deputy commissioner of Kolkata Police, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday in connection with an alleged land-grabbing and extortion case after repeatedly evading summons issued by the central agency.

Biswas, who previously served as the officer-in-charge of Kalighat Police Station and is considered close to former chief minister Mamata Banerjee, had skipped multiple appearances despite being summoned several times by ED investigators.

“He has arrived before our officials today,” an ED officer said.

According to officials, Biswas had also been asked to appear before the agency on 28 April, a day ahead of the second phase of polling in West Bengal, but failed to turn up.

“Following this, a lookout circular was issued to prevent him from leaving the country,” the officer said, adding that the alert was circulated across airports and Border Security Force outposts.

Biswas’ name allegedly surfaced during the ED’s investigation into accusations of land grabbing, extortion and other offences linked to Golpark-based businessman ‘Sona Pappu’.

Officials said the agency also gathered additional inputs against the police officer after the arrest of Behala businessman Joy Kamdar in a separate financial irregularities case.

The ED has been attempting to trace and question Biswas for weeks as part of its widening probe into the alleged nexus involving extortion, illegal land dealings and financial irregularities, officials said.

With PTI inputs