Two days after businessman and film producer Shibaji Panja was detained in Kolkata and later released in connection with a Rs 18-crore cheating case, the Delhi Police Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on Monday said if he fails to cooperate with the probe, it will get an arrest warrant against him. On Saturday night, in a major embarrassment to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, a Delhi Police team had detained Panja shortly after he arrived at the Kolkata airport from Bangladesh. Panja, a member of Mamata’s business delegation to Bangladesh, was detained by the Bidhannagar police in compliance with a lookout circular issued by the EOW. He was later released on a personal bond of Rs 50,000. “According to court directions, he has been asked to cooperate with the investigation officer from Delhi. Thus, Panja has to come to New Delhi. All the documents in question are also there. If he doesn’t, we will have to get an arrest warrant against him,” said B K Singh, ADCP (EOW), Delhi Police. [related-post] “We may get more information about his involvement in other scams once we interrogate him,” he added. Asked about the timing of Panja’s arrest, Singh said it was a mere coincidence. “We thought he was just another fraudster before we found out that he was a big shot in Bengal. It was a big surprise for us. The fact that he was on a trip with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee attracted too much media attention,” he claimed. Singh added: “We have been after him for the last two to three months. First, we wanted to verify the addresses that he had given. Those turned out to be fake. Then we tried to trace him but failed. Next, we issued a lookout notice against him. Now, if we still cannot get hold of him, we will have to get a warrant. For us, he is just another accused.” On Monday, two officers of Delhi Police’s EOW reached NSCBI Airport police station and collected documents regarding Panja’s arrest and the court order. “No notice has been sent to Panja. the next course of action will be decided tomorrow after we see the court order,” said a EOW officer. When contacted, a senior officer at Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate said: “We have nothing to do with the case. A lookout notice was issued against Panja and we merely handed him over to the court. Now, it is up to the Delhi Police. They can question him or appeal against his release.” Panja was a director of R P Infosystems Ltd — named in an FIR registered in Delhi in July last year under sections of forgery and cheating amounting to Rs 18 crore. Kaustuv Ray, a director of the firm, said the alleged forgery had taken place when Panja was the director. “This is a pressure tactic of the Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) and the Delhi Police to taint the company’s image. We will file an FIR against ICFI,” he added.
