Kolkata: Suspended Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan made a profit of over Rs 100 crore only from his prawn and shrimp export business, and that too in just two financial years — 2021-22 and 2022-23, as per the findings of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) which has Shahjahan in its custody now.
Sources said the whooping profit was earned through different avenues — the first was from the prawn and shrimp produced at the pisciculture farms directly owned by Shahhahan through his family members, the majority of which were set up via illegal and forceful conversion of farmland by flowing in saline water there.
The second was by putting pressure on other pisciculture farm owners to sell the prawn and shrimp produced in their farms at a nominal profit to the export business of Shahjahan, which was registered in the name of Sheikh Sabina, his daughter.
Sources said the pressure from Shahjahan on the other local pisciculture farm owners was that they will have to bear the cost of breeding and rearing the prawn and shrimp at their farms and sell those products only to the export farm of Shahjahan, and not to any third party, and that, too at a marginal profit.
The sources added that the products purchased at such nominal prices were sold at premium rates in the export market by the farm registered in the name of Shahjahan’s daughter, which helped him earn a whooping profit, that too in just two financial years.
