News Analysis India

Tag: Kolkata Police

  • Bhawanipore bypoll: BJP demands Section 144, deployment of central forces for polling day

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: A BJP delegation met the West Bengal chief electoral officer on Monday and demanded deployment of central paramilitary forces at every polling booth and promulgation of Section 144 Cr PC in Bhawanipore constituency in the city during the by-poll on September 30 in view of the alleged attack on party leaders during the day and earlier.

    The BJP delegation also demanded that the CEO Aarif Aftab disallow Kolkata Police from having direct control to maintain law and order in the constituency on the polling day to ensure free and fair poll.

    Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta, who led the delegation, told reporters the BJP delegation informed the CEO how the party’s Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh was heckled near Hanuman Mandir in Bhawanipore during the day and had to return without campaigning. “In a second incident, our former state president Dilip Ghosh was attacked by the same people who enjoyed the patronage of a family in the area. We have reported it to the CEO,” he said.

    ALSO READ| Poll campaigning comes to an end in Bengal amid scuffles between Trinamool, BJP

    Campaigning for the by-poll, in which Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is a candidate, came to an end on Monday and was marked by rising of political temperatures.

    The BJP MP said it was seen whenever there is a possibility of high voter turnout, the TMC resorts to such terror tactics. “We therefore urged the CEO to ensure that central forces are deployed in each booth and section 144 CRPC is enforced in the entire constituency,” he said.

    Asked about Ghosh’s demand for countermanding the by-poll in Bhawanipore, Dasgupta said “We want free and fair polls. What Dilip Ghosh said about countermanding Bhawanipore by-poll till the situation in the constituency returns to normal is based on his apprehension and real perception about the scope of holding free and fair polls.”

    “We want the Election Commission to take steps to instill confidence among people about holding elections without fear. We asked the chief electoral officer to see that the Kolkata Police is not in direct charge of holding polls,” he said.

    BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh was on Monday pushed and heckled by alleged TMC supporters, prompting his security officer to whip out a pistol in Bhawanipore assembly constituency. The EC sought a report on the incident from the state.

    Party MP Arjun Singh faced ‘go-back’ slogans from the ruling TMC workers while soliciting votes for party candidate Pryanka Tibrewal. The incident involving Ghosh occurred when he inside a vaccination camp in Jodubabur Bazaar area in the constituency.

    ALSO READ| BJP’s Dilip Ghosh pushed and heckled in Bhowanipore by alleged TMC workers, EC seeks report

    TMC supporters present at the spot shouted slogans demanding that he leave, alleging that he was campaigning at a state-run vaccination programme which was not permitted. Ghosh was whisked away by his security guards.

    He later alleged TMC supporters “attacked” him without provocation and injured a BJP activist. Dasgupta said the CEO’s office was asked to ensure live streaming through weblink of the entire constituency for immediate action by central forces.

  • British Council launches communication skill course for Kolkata Police officers

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The British Council has launched a customised course for officers of the Kolkata Police to improve their soft skills in English.

    The Council on Thursday said the online course, ‘Communicating with Confidence’, aims at enhancing communication skill of the personnel while interacting with the public, in interstate and international cooperation and related work areas.

    “The course will help participating police officers with skills in supporting the rising number of international tourists visiting Kolkata. The course will be available to 1,500 police force officers across ranks,” the Council said in a statement.

    The 22.5 hour-course will be delivered over seven weeks, through bi-weekly classes.

    The course was launched on Wednesday in presence of city Police Commissioner Soumen Mitra and the British Council’s East and Northeast Director Dr Debanjan Chakrabarti.

    “We look forward to working with the British Council and are sure that the specially designed, holistic communication course will add long-term value to our officers,” Mitra said.

    The Council’s India Director Barbara Wickham OBE and Acting British Deputy High Commissioner of Kolkata Sophie Ross were also present during the launch.

  • Kolkata diary

    Express News Service
    Forensic units in all divisions of Kolkata Police Kolkata Police has decided to form forensic teams in each of its nine divisions to collect samples from crime scenes and accident spots without delay. As of now, personnel of the Forensic Division, located at the police headquarters in Lalbazar visit all the crime/accident spots in the city to collect samples. This has led to delays, especially on days when there are multiple accidents or crimes. “We will set up a forensic team of two members in each of the nine divisions in the state capital.”

    Popular college to conduct online admission tests Ramakrishna Mission Residential College (Autonomous), one of the several in-campus educational institutions run by the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama in Narendrapur, has decided to admit students to undergraduate courses after an online screening due to Covid-19. The college authorities said students applying for honours degrees in History, Physics, English and Economics will have to take online admission tests and give a viva. The other eight departments, including the Department of Chemistry, Department of Mathematics and Department of Statistics, will shortlist candidates based on their Class 12 marks and an online viva. The college used to on-campus admission tests till 2019. 

    Vaccination at home for the bedridden The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has decided to visit the houses of those who are bedridden to administer Covid-19 vaccines to them. The corporation has made it clear that the special service can only be availed by those who are unable to leave their houses. Officials said when such a service is sought for a bedridden person, nobody else in that family will be allowed to make use of the service. Covid vaccination guidelines do not allow vaccination at people’s homes, said an official of the civic body, adding that exemptions can be made for those who are immobile

    Jadavpur univ: Class XII and X marks for admissionJadavpur University has decided to consider Class X and XII marks as criteria to admit students to undergraduate courses. The decision was taken last week after the state education department struck down the university’s proposal to screen students for BSc courses based on their Class XII marks and as well as online interviews or group discussions. The state government has asked all government colleges and universities to screen students for admission to undergraduate science courses this year solely based on the marks scored in Class X and Class XII exams

    pranab mondalOur correspondent in West [email protected]

  • Three suspected terrorists arrested from south Kolkata: Police

    The three suspected JMB terrorists were living in a rented accommodation for a few months in the middle-class locality, raising concern among the locals.

  • Fake vaccination camps: Kolkata Police includes attempt-to-murder charge against accused

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Kolkata Police on Saturday included the charge of attempt to murder along with other sections of the IPC against a man who allegedly impersonated as an IAS officer and organised COVID-19 vaccination camps together with three of his associates, officials said.

    Debanjan Deb, 28, and his accomplices have also been charged with criminal conspiracy, forgery and cheating.

    He was arrested on Wednesday for masquerading as a joint commissioner of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and operating a immunisation camp in Kasba area, where actor and Trinamool Congress MP Mimi Chakraborty had also got her jab.

    According to a top source in the state government, the decision to include the attempt to murder charge against all the four was taken at the “direction of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee”.

    The West Bengal government has also set up an expert committee to examine the effect of fake vaccination administered to people at the camp and take corrective action, a senior police officer said.

    ALSO READ | Fake vaccination camps: Suvendu Adhikari writes to Harsh Vardhan for CBI probe

    The four-member panel will be submitting a detailed report very soon, a health department official said.

    Health camps were also organised by the government for those who had been given the shots at the camps run by Deb.

    “Initial findings suggest that people were administered antibiotic Amikacin instead of Covid vaccines, and it had no major impact on their health,” a health department source said.

    The department also released a set of SOPs for operating Covid vaccination centres or camps under non- government initiative.

    Earlier in the day, Kolkata Police arrested the three associates of Deb.

    Two of them were found to be signatories to a fake bank account that was registered against the name of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, officials said.

    The third was on the payroll of Deb and had actively taken part in the vaccination camps, they said.

    ALSO READ | Days after taking fake Covid vaccine, TMC MP Mimi Chakraborty falls ill

    “One is a resident of Salt Lake while another is from Barasat. Both were called for questioning before they were arrested,” a senior police officer said.

    The “employee” of Deb hails from Taltala.

    All four of them were produced in a local court on Saturday.

    Three more cases have been registered against Deb at Kasba Police Station, he said.

    The TMC MP, who was invited to attend the camp, was the first to raise alarm after she did not receive the customary message sent to those who are inoculated.

  • Fake IAS officer duped people of lakhs of rupees: Kolkata police on vaccine scam

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Arrested fake IAS officer Debanjan Deb has been impersonating as a joint commissioner of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) for the last four months and has duped a few people of several lakhs of rupees on the pretext of helping them get tenders of the civic body, a Kolkata Police officer said after initial probe.

    Deb, who lied to his family about becoming an IAS officer, might have used that money to organise fake Covid-19 vaccination camps, pay salary to his employees and rent for the office, the officer said on Friday.

    The 28-year-old man came in contact with several police officers and political leaders while participating in various programmes organised for social causes, the IPS officer said adding that four persons were called for questioning as part of the investigation.

    “Deb was an IAS aspirant but could not crack the UPSC examinations. In 2018, he told his father and relatives that he passed the tests and became an IAS officer,” he said.

    Deb told interrogators that he started a business of selling sanitiser, masks and PPE kits last year and made a “good profit” but at that time he did not identify himself as a KMC joint commissioner.

    “But slowly, when people started approaching him for help in Covid-19 related needs, Deb promised them assistance as an official and started going around identifying himself as a joint commissioner of the KMC. He fell into his own trap,” the officer said.

    He hired a vehicle, recruited men and rented an office in Kasba area of the city, the cop said.

    In the process, he came in contact with a few contractors and sub-contractors of the KMC and allegedly cheated two persons.

    One of them filed a police complaint alleging that Deb had taken Rs 10 lakh from him promising him to get a tender of the KMC.

    Another person has also approached the sleuths of Kolkata Police claiming that Deb had taken Rs 90 lakh from him, out of which Rs 36 lakh was transferred to a bank account, for getting a tender of the KMC to construct a stadium, the police officer said.

    “He might have used the money to run these camps as well as pay salary to the people he had recruited and rent for the office,” the IPS officer said.

    However, the probe is still at a very preliminary stage, he said.

    “There is not much money left in the accounts about which Deb has told us. Our officers at the anti-bank fraud unit are using his PAN card details to check whether he has any other bank accounts or not. We have also asked the banks to provide details of all transactions he had through these accounts,” he said.

    Deb had claimed of organising a “khichri” distribution camp in Behala with the help of a local club and the police have started verifying it.

    The items seized from Deb’s office included pads having fake logos of the KMC and the West Bengal government.

    “We have found from his office several letters written by him to secretaries of various departments. It seems that he wrote them to influence people but never dispatched them. We are verifying the matter with the respective persons,” the police officer said.

    The Kolkata Police on Friday constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the fake vaccination drive.

    Deb held two camps in the city where thousands of people were suspected to have been inoculated.

    The police arrested Deb on Wednesday for allegedly posing as an IAS officer and organising a COVID-19 vaccination camp in Kasba area, where actor and Trinamool Congress MP Mimi Chakraborty had also got her jab.

    Chakraborty, who was invited to attend the camp, said she became suspicious about the vaccination process as she did not receive the customary SMS that is sent to people after they are administered a dose, and informed the police.

    “At the camp held in a college, 72 people have been inoculated. We are trying to find out how many were vaccinated in Kasba,” the officer said.

    Deb got labels of Covishield printed from somewhere in Sealdah area of the city, he added.

    The fake labels were found pasted on several vials of an antibiotic injection used for a number of bacterial infections.

  • Fake vaccination: Police forms SIT, BJP demands CBI probe as Trinamool denies link

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The raging controversy over the fake COVID-19 vaccination camps in parts of Kolkata on Friday snowballed into a political storm ensnaring into it several Trinamool Congress leaders, prompting the opposition BJP to demand a CBI probe into a “larger conspiracy” in the case.

    The Kolkata Police formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by the joint police commissioner (Crime) to investigate how the main accused Debanjan Deb who, impersonating as an IAS officer, organised COVID-19 vaccination camps where around 2000 people were suspected to have administered fake doses.

    “We have formed an SIT to probe into the matter. Senior officers of the Detective Department are there in the team,” a senior Kolkata police officer told reporters here.

    The incident triggered a political storm after purported photographs and videos of the arrested person along with several TMC leaders and ministers at various programmes came in public domain.

    PTI could not independently verify the authenticity of the photographs or videos.

    According to police officials, Deb allegedly had financially duped several people in Kolkata by impersonating as a joint municipal commissioner of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).

    On his social media accounts, he had posted several pictures of organising medical camps and participating in government programmes.

    The TMC leadership, however, denied any involvement in the matter.

    “We are politicians and attend several programmes every day. Many people come to us and click pictures. It is not always possible to ascertain their identity. The allegations against our leaders are baseless and politically motivated,” senior TMC leader and minister Firhad Hakim said.

    After its defeat in the assembly polls, the BJP was looking for an issue to corner the TMC government and is quick to grab it and demanded a CBI probe to look into the matter.

    It is a conspiracy of the TMC as it is trying to tarnish the BJP-led Union government with a claim that it has provided fake vaccines, claimed Suvendu Adhikari, leader of the opposition in the state assembly.

    “We apprehend that the West Bengal government and the ruling party have hatched a large conspiracy to implicate the Centre. They are helping people with disputable identity to organise camps where fake jabs were administered to defame the Narendra Modi regime.”

    “If there was any adverse impact on people who were inoculated, the TMC will blame the Centre for providing fake vaccines,” he said.

    Adhikari led a BJP delegation to Swasthya Bhawan, the state health department headquarters, and questioned officials how a person impersonating as an IAS officer has been organising vaccination camps remained off the radar of the police and the department for so long.

    “The fake IAS officer organised several camps and brought busloads of people from other areas. How can it be that he was not caught earlier? Was he being shielded by the ruling party? It is a large conspiracy. Only a probe by a large agency like the CBI can unravel the truth,” he said.

    The ruling TMC dubbed the allegations as baseless and politically motivated.

    “If just a photograph proves someone guilty, several BJP leaders should be put behind bars for having being photographed with several scamsters. The police, in this case, arrested the prime accused and will unravel the truth,” senior TMC leader Tapas Ray said.

    Meanwhile, the Kolkata Police Commissioner Soumen Mitra said that the organisation of fake COVID-19 vaccination camps by a man pretending to be an IAS officer is an act of a “distorted mind”.

    “What Debanjan has done is very inhuman. It can only be done by one with mental distortion,” Mitra told reporters.

    A PIL was filed before the Calcutta High Court on Friday seeking an investigation into the vaccination fraud by an independent probe agency.

    The police arrested Deb on Wednesday for allegedly posing as an IAS officer and organising a COVID-19 vaccination camp in Kasba, where actor and Trinamool Congress MP Mimi Chakraborty also got her jab.

    Chakraborty, who was invited to attend the camp, said she became suspicious about the vaccination process as she did not receive the customary SMS sent to people after they were administered a dose and informed the police.

    During a search in Deb’s office, police seized several vials of an antibiotic injection used for many bacterial infections and other items that were sent for tests.

    It was also found that fake labels of Covishield were pasted on the vials of Amikacin injections used for a number of bacterial infections.

    Fake logos, letterheads, and pads of the KMC were also seized from his office.

    On what could be the purpose of Deb in holding such free camps, a senior Kolkata Police official said it is yet to be known, but he might have political connections that helped him in organising those camps.

    The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has started an internal inquiry into the matter and is also spotting people who have taken vaccines from his camps.

    Deb used to travel in a large car with a fake logo of the state government and a personal security officer.

  • Jaipal Singh Bhullar death: HC orders second autopsy of ‘gangster’ gunned down in Kolkata

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday asked the PGIMER to conduct a second post-mortem of alleged gangster Jaipal Singh Bhullar, shot dead by Kolkata police there recently.

    Justice Avneesh Jhingan also asked the PGIEMR to constitute a board to supervise the second autopsy, which, he said, should be conducted either at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh or AIIMS, Delhi, or some other independent medical institute.

    The judge ordered the second autopsy and asked the PGIMER to ascertain exact details of the injuries on Bhullar’s body on a plea by his father Bhupinder Singh.

    Bhullar and his associate Jaspreet Singh, allegedly involved in killing two policemen recently in a grain market near Ludhiana, were gunned down by a Kolkata police team in a shootout on June 9.

    Bhullar and Jaspreet were shot dead by a Special Task Force team of the Kolkata police on “pin-pointed” information of the Punjab Police about the gangsters’ hideout in a housing society in the New Town area of the city.

    Justice Jhingan ordered Bhullar’s second autopsy “ignoring the technicalities and considering the nature of the relief sought and noting that body of the petitioner’s son has been lying at his place for almost nine days”.

    “The rejection of the petitioner’s prayer at this stage may result in irreversible damage,” said the judge while ordering an expeditious autopsy.

    The first post-mortem was conducted on June 10 in Kolkata and the body was handed over to the petitioner on June 12.

    Since then, the body has been in the family’s possession.

    Earlier, a single-judge bench of Justice Manjari Nehru Kaul had dismissed Bhullar’s father plea saying the court has no jurisdiction as the post-mortem was conducted in Kolkata.

    Bhullar’s father, however, approached the Supreme Court which set aside Justice Kaul’s order and asked the P&HHC to decide the plea by June 21.

    The counsel for the petitioner told Justice Jhingan that the petitioner was not ready to hand over the body to the police and he would himself bring the body to the PGIMER.

    “Let the petitioner hand over the body of his son to PGIMER, Chandigarh on 22nd June, 2021 at 10:00 AM for conducting the second post-mortem,” the judge wrote in his order.

    Senior advocate Amit Jhanji, appearing for the PGIMER, assured the court that the “needful would be done” by the PGIMER for compliance of its directions.

    The high court while deciding the petition said, “The court is not opining or commenting upon the facts pleaded about the encounter of the petitioner’s son.”

    “Only the prayer for the second post-mortem is being dealt with. The petitioner would be at liberty to avail remedies available in law for redressal of grievances, if any.”

    “In normal circumstances, it would have been appropriate to hear the West Bengal authorities but considering that time is the given the direction of the Supreme Court, the petition is being decided today itself,” as per the court order.

  • Cocaine row: BJP leader Rakesh Singh remanded to police custody till March 1

    By Agencies
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) leader Rakesh Singh on Wednesday was remanded to police custody till March 1 after being produced before Alipore Court in the city, in connection with a narcotics case involving youth BJP leader Pamela Goswami.

    Earlier, Kolkata Police arrested both sons of Rakesh Singh from his residence on the night intervening Tuesday and Wednesday “following their links with Pamela Goswami”.

    ALSO READ | Kolkata Police search beauty parlour ‘owned’ by BJP youth-wing leader Pamela Goswami after drugs haul

    On Tuesday, the BJP leader had been arrested from Burdwan in connection with the same case. The same day, Calcutta High Court had also disposed of a petition by him seeking a stay on the notice issued to him by Kolkata Police in the narcotic case registered in New Alipore.

    On February 20, BJP Yuva Morcha leaders Pamela Goswami and Prabir De had been arrested with 100 grams of cocaine from New Alipore in Kolkata.

    Besides, a person named Somnath Chatterjee (26) had also been arrested in connection with the seizure of about 90 grams of narcotic substance (suspected cocaine) in Kolkata.

  • Bengal drugs haul: BJP leader Rakesh Singh, sons arrested by Kolkata Police

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal police arrested BJP leader Rakesh Singh from Galsi in Purba Bardhaman district, about 130 km from Kolkata, on Tuesday night in connection with his alleged involvement in a drug seizure case, a senior officer said.

    His two sons were arrested by the narcotics section of the city police on charges of obstructing and stopping its personnel from entering the residence of the BJP state committee member in the port area of the city, he said.

    Singh was arrested at a nakapoint on the national highway at Galsi by the district police after being alerted by Kolkata Police.

    Singh was in a car in which he was travelling to an unknown destination along with CISF personnel provided as his security, the officer said.

    Earlier in the day, Singh had been summoned by Kolkata Police to appear before its narcotics department in connection with a drug case.

    He had then told the police that he had left the city for Delhi and will appear before them after returning.

    BJP state youth leader Pamela Goswami and two others had been arrested in connection with the case.

    “It seems he was trying to escape. He had switched to another vehicle probably sensing that we have already started looking for him. He was trying to evade arrest,” a top police Kolkata Police officer said.

    Singh had reportedly left his home in the city’s Kidderpore area in a SUV and later got into to a car.

    Police said that the BJP leader had switched off his mobile phone but had used it once to make a call following which sleuths spotted him trying to escape taking the national highway to Bardhaman.

    “All the districts’ police were alerted and finally he was stopped at a naka point at Galsi in Purba Bardhaman at around 8 PM. Our teams have left to bring him to the city and hopefully by tonight we will be able to bring him here,” he said.

    Singh had moved Calcutta High Court seeking a stay on and quashing of the notice by the police to appear before it on Tuesday as a witness in the case.

    The HC had dismissed Singh’s petition seeking the quashing of the notice by the police.

    Pamela Goswami, the state secretary of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), was arrested along with a friend and her personal security guard from New Alipore area of the city on February 19 after about 90 gm of cocaine was seized from her car.

    She had then alleged that it was a conspiracy by Singh.