Kolkata: ‘Family pressure and hunger for fame drove conman to hold fake vaccination drives’ – Times of India

KOLKATA: Debanjan Deb, who organized the fake vaccination camps, was a victim of family pressure and his desire for recognition, Kolkata Police said on Wednesday. The special investigation team by detective department found that while the first prompted him to falsely claim he was an IAS, the second led him to organise the fake vaccine camps.
A senior officer, however, said: “We need to cross-check everything he is saying.” He has been trying to mislead the sleuths from the very beginning, the cops added.

To fund the camps, Deb took money from KMC contractors and traders, promising them contracts or projects in return. Earlier, he had befriended several KMC contractors and bagged sub-contracts from them in return of landing lucrative tenders that he would arrange through his contacts in higher circles.
Deb’s father, who retired as a senior Excise officer, wanted to see his son as an IAS officer. Deb took his first attempt at the UPSC in 2017 but failed to clear the prelims. He, however, told his father in 2018 that he had become an IAS officer.

A team of doctors check-up a victim of fake Covid-19 vaccination, at City College, in Kolkata. (PTI)
The hunger for fame drove him to social work. He used to land up at local blood camps, food distribution programmes and relief camps. Soon, local leaders and mid-level cops began to seek his help in organizing social work. “This was also the time that Deb enrolled into filmmaking and managed an entry into Kolkata Film Festival. Here he developed a rapport with officials from the I&CA department,” said an officer.
Last year, he invested Rs 3 lakh and bought huge stocks of masks, sanitizers and PPE kits from a wholesale shop on Canning Street, sold them at local markets and made profit. He used this money to distribute Covid kits to the needy and doctors and organized community kitchens in Behala. By this time, he had become acquainted with government officials and leaders to pass himself off as a senior KMC official. As appreciation of his work grew, he opened the Kasba office.
When second wave stuck, his staff wanted to work from home. Deb then promised to arrange for their vaccination.
Joint CP (crime) Murlidhar Sharma said Deb decided to raise money to arrange for fake vaccines as he thought he could earn enough goodwill that could be used later. A Tangra businessman paid Rs 80 lakh after Deb promised to award him the contract for an upcoming KMC stadium. He also cheated a Behala trader of Rs 10 lakh.
Cops have registered two FIRs at New Market PS for forging a top KMC officer’s signature and opening a fake account in KMC’s name.