PK Halder to remain in jail custody in India for 14 more days

Six people including Prashant Kumar Halder (PK Halder) has been placed in 14 days of judicial custody or jail custody by a court in India's West Bengal.

Judge Jeevan Kumar Sadhu of the special court under the Kolkata Municipal Court of West Bengal passed the order on Tuesday.

PK Halder and five of his accomplices will be produced in court on 5 July following the two weeks of custody.

On 7 June, the court placed the six people, including PK Halder, in remand for 14 days. After the remand period they were produced in court on Tuesday, where the judge ordered them to be kept in jail custody for another 14 days.

PK Haldar, who fled Bangladesh after embezzling more than Tk11,000 crore, was arrested along with five others on 14 May in Kolkata.

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 Enforcement Directorate custody since their arrest.

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.