Four held in Kolkata for running job scam, one posed as police officer – Hindustan Times

The detective department of the Kolkata Police on Wednesday arrested four men for running a racket that duped youths by offering them jobs as home guards in the police department on payment of cash, said Murlidhar Sharma, joint commissioner of police (crime).

The case was filed on the basis of a complaint from 20-year-old Samaresh Mahata, a resident of Salboni in the West Midnapore district. He said that he and five of his friends gave the accused men ₹35 lakh in June. The youths were given fake appointment letters, khaki beret caps and belts.

One of the accused, Masud Rana, a resident of Ranitala in Murshidabad district, used to pose as a deputy superintendent of police. He even flashed a fake identity card, said Sharma.

The accused were arrested from a hotel in central Kolkata. Police seized ₹1.85 lakh in cash, fake appointment letters, beret caps and belts during the raid. It is suspected that the accused cheated more youths. A probe has started.

The other three arrested persons are residents of North 24 Parganas, Malda and East Midnapore districts.

This is the fourth case in recent weeks in which police have arrested imposters.

On Tuesday, a man named Sanatan Roy Chaudhury, who claimed to be a lawyer working for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and also the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was arrested on charges of cheating. A receipt for the BJP membership fee was recovered from him.

After the arrest, Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said, “Millions of people become BJP members by paying membership fees by calling up the toll-free number. It is not possible to keep track of everyone. The guilty have to be punished. It is the government’s job to detect imposters.”

In a second case, also recorded on Tuesday, eight people were held by the Bengal police at Memari in East Burdwan district for running a job racket. To dupe youths, the accused allegedly flaunted a document purportedly showing the signature of Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.

These arrests came days after the detective department of the Kolkata Police arrested Debanjan Deb who posed as an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer working for the Kolkata civic body and ran a fake Covid vaccination racket.

He was exposed after Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member Mimi Chakraborty got a job at a camp Deb held in Kolkata and informed the authorities when she did not receive any certificate.

Deb held at least two camps in Kolkata last month where more than 800 people were allegedly given shots of Amikacin, an antibiotic. The ampules seized from his office have been sent for laboratory examination. He ran a job racket as well, said Sharma.