Since time immemorial, West Bengal politics has been synonymous with violence backed by a syndicate. While the Left governments created this syndicate, it was Mamata Banerjee, who not just inherited and co-opted this syndicate, but also perfected it, made it work like a well-oiled machinery, every cog fitting in the whole of intimidation and cyclical recreation of fear. She held West Bengal in a Stockholm Syndrome grip.

The All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) worked as a cartel, violence at the centre of its ruling philosophy, manifesting itself as not just a political outfit, but marshalled on the lines of organized crime.

Recently arrested Sona Pappu, less known by his real name Biswajit Poddar, was allegedly the linchpin of this criminal syndicate. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on charges of money laundering, land grabbing, running a criminal syndicate and lording over an extensive extortion racket. The ED grilled him for nine straight hours and then placed him under arrest, underlining that he was not cooperating. Pappu is said to be the mastermind of the Kankulia violence

Sona Pappu was locally called the ‘King’ till very recently. He started with working his father’s jewellery shop in the Picnic Garden area and then ventured allegedly into construction and criminal business in 2010-11, committing a murder Bediadanga in 2017. He is said to have had the political patronage, by that time, of the TMC; used to call himself “untouchable by the law”.

His real business was running a mortgage racket on the muscle of his local gang. His real estate ventures covered posh South Kolkata. He soon, it is claimed, cartelized real estate. According to sources, who want to remain anonymous, at least for now, Sona Pappu was hobnobbing with all the TMC bigwigs; he used to invest TMC money. He was the muscle behind other criminal-political figures who wanted to launder money.

Meanwhile, Pappu’s name had earlier surfaced in connection with violence in the Rabindra Sarovar police station area in February last year. Locals alleged that his associates were involved in clashes and vandalism in the area. While police arrested several individuals following the unrest, they were unable to trace Pappu, who went into hiding.

Despite absconding, Pappu appeared live on Facebook on multiple occasions, denying any involvement in the violence.

The ED, on the other hand, launched on April 1 coordinated raids at six locations across Kolkata, including Pappu’s Ballygunge residence and offices linked to construction companies. Investigators also searched the home of Rahul Das, described as one of Pappu’s close associates.

During one of the searches,........

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