PK Halder, 5 others placed on judicial remand in India
Enforcement Directorate officials will be able to interrogate them during the remand as per the prison’s rule
A Kolkata City Sessions Court has placed six people, including former managing director of the then NRB Global Bank and Reliance Finance, Proshanta Kumar Halder, alias PK Halder, on judicial remand.
Justice Sauvik Ghosh granted the remand until 7 June after the Enforcement Directorate (ED), India's central financial investigation agency, produced them in court on Friday.
The ED had sought a 14-day judicial remand for PK Halder and five others.
PK Haldar, who fled Bangladesh after embezzling more than Tk11,000 crore, was arrested on May 14 in Kolkata. On that day, the Enforcement Directorate also arrested five others.
After that, the ED remanded them for a total of 14 days in two phases.
A case was filed against five of them, including a woman, under the 2002 law for smuggling money into India from Bangladesh through the 'hawala' system.
PK Halder and his associates invested these funds in various businesses and purchased property in India's West Bengal.
The six, including PK Halder, have been in ED custody since their arrest. After granting the judicial remand, they will be kept as prisoners in jail. According to the prison rules, ED officials will be able to interrogate them at specific times.
Accepting to the ED plea, the judge granted ED officials for interrogating the accused during the judicial remand as per the prison's rules. When they will be produced in the court on 7 June, it will set the date for the next hearing for a considerable time.
According to the ACC, PK Halder has swindled at least Tk11,000 crore from various organisations.
He has embezzled around Tk3,500 crore from ILFSL, Tk2,200 crore from FAS Finance, Tk2,500 crore from Reliance Finance and Tk3,000 crore from People's Leasing.
The amount of swindled money they so far learned about during the investigation of the case may increase, said sources at the ACC.
According to India's Financial Intelligence Unit, PK Halder had been living in India using a fake identity before the arrest.
