Arrested Fake IAS officer Debanjan Deb A Kolkata Police official said that for the past four months, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has been impersonating as Joint Commissioner and has duped some people of several lakhs on the pretext of helping them get tenders of the local body. initial screening.
The officer said on June 25 that Deb, who had lied to his family about becoming an IAS officer, used that money to organize fake COVID-19 vaccination camps, pay salaries to his employees and rent office. would have to be given.
The 28-year-old man came in contact with several police officers and political leaders while attending various events organized for social causes, the IPS officer said, adding that as part of the investigation four people were called for questioning.
“Deb was an IAS aspirant but could not crack the UPSC exams. In 2018, he told his father and relatives that he cleared the exam and became an IAS officer,” he said.
Deb told interrogators that he started the business of selling sanitisers, masks and PPE kits last year and made a “good profit”, but at that time he did not identify himself as KMC’s joint commissioner.
“But gradually, when people started approaching him for help with needs related to COVID-19, Deb promised him assistance as an officer and started identifying himself as Joint Commissioner of KMC. He fell into his own trap,” said the officer.
Police said he hired a vehicle, recruited men and rented an office in the city’s Kasba area.
In the process, he came in contact with some contractors and sub-contractors of KMC and allegedly duped two persons. One of them filed a police complaint alleging that Deb had taken Rs 10 lakh from him for the tender of KMC.
Another person also approached Kolkata Police and claimed that Deb had taken Rs 90 lakh from him, out of which 36 lakh was transferred to the bank account for the stadium construction tender of KMC, the police officer said.
“He may have used the money to run these camps as well as pay salaries to the people he recruited and hired for office,” the IPS officer said.
However, the investigation is still at a very early stage, he said.
“There is not much money left in the account that Deb told us about. Our officials of the anti-bank fraud unit are using his PAN card details to check whether he has any other bank account or not. We have also asked the banks to provide details of all the transactions done by them through these accounts,” he said.
Items seized from Deb’s office include pads bearing fake logos of KMC and West Bengal government. “We have received several letters written by him to secretaries of various departments from his office. It seems that he wrote them to impress people but never sent them. We are verifying the matter with the concerned persons,” said the police officer.
The Kolkata Police had on June 25 constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the fake vaccination campaign. Deb organized two camps in the city where thousands of people were suspected of being vaccinated.
The police on June 23 arrested Deb for allegedly posing as an IAS officer and organizing a COVID-19 vaccination camp in Kasba area, where actor and Trinamool Congress MP Mimi Chakraborty met. He was also beaten up.
Ms Chakraborty, who was invited to attend the camp, said she had doubts about the vaccination process because she did not receive the customary SMS, which is sent to people after a dose, and informed the police.
“In a camp organized in a college, 72 people have been vaccinated. We are trying to find out how many people were vaccinated in the town.
He said that Deb got the labels of Kovishield printed from somewhere in the Sealdah area of the city.
Fake labels were pasted on many vials of antibiotic injections used for many bacterial infections.
three associates arrested
Three more associates of Deb were arrested on the morning of June 26 in connection with suspected COVID-19 vaccination camps in Kolkata, the official said.
The two associates were signatories of the bank account maintained by the accused in the name of KMC. The third person, who was on Deb’s payroll, had actively participated in the camps where many people were “vaccinated” by fake vaccines.
“One of them is a resident of Salt Lake, while the other is from Barasat. Both were called for questioning before being arrested,” said the official.
The third person, a resident of Taltala, was arrested after police was found to be “too active” in helping organize the camps.
Meanwhile, three more cases were registered against Deb at the Kasba police station, the police official said.
“A private firm which claimed that it had given around Rs 1.2 lakh to about 172 employees to get vaccinated, lodged a complaint with the Kasba police station. Another complaint was filed by a contractor who claimed that he had paid ₹90 lakh to him to get the tender for the construction of the stadium,” he said.
“The third complaint was filed by a pharma company, which paid them Rs 4 lakh to get the tender,” he said.
Deb’s plaque removed
The KMC on June 25 vandalized a plaque bearing Deb’s name along with Trinamool Congress MPs and a minister.
Two TMC MLAs filed a police complaint claiming that the bust of Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore in central Kolkata’s Taltala area has their names on the plaque at the base of the statue without their knowledge.
The BJP tweeted that the demolition of the plaque, on which Deb was referred to as a KMC official, was tantamount to destruction of evidence.
The local TMC ward coordinator said it was set up on February 26 at a function organized by a local reading room, but no dignitaries were present. The ward coordinator claimed that the names of those leaders were included in the plaque without his knowledge.
The plaque was removed from the base of the statue and broken into pieces by the KMC on the initiative of the Ward Coordinator.
Atin Ghosh, a member of the KMC’s board of administrators, said no such program was organized by the civic body.
Senior TMC MLA from Baranagar Tapas Roy, whose name was on the plaque, denied knowing Deb or any knowledge of the programme. “We were busy campaigning at that time. I don’t know how my name came up in the plaque,” said Mr. Roy.
He said that he has lodged a complaint with the police in this regard.
Another TMC MLA Nayana Bandyopadhyay also said that she has filed a police complaint in the matter.
Senior minister and head of the KMC’s board of administrators, Firhad Hakim, said many people, who are not identified, come close to political leaders to take selfies.
“If one of them prepares a plaque and his name is written on a plaque along with my and other people’s names, does that mean we have a relationship with him? Please note that none of us were present there,” Mr Hakim said.