An assistant commissioner in Kolkata police has been arrested for allegedly collecting Rs 36 lakh from a man after promising to arrange a liquor licence for him and a job in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) for his sister.
The detective department of the Barrackpore police commissionerate arrested Somnath Bhattacharya on Friday based on a complaint from Sourjya Saha, a resident of north Kolkata.
“The accused police officer had allegedly collected Rs 36 lakh in two tranches for bagging a liquor licence for the complaint and securing a permanent job for his sister in the KMC,” said a senior officer in the detective department of the Barrackpore commissionerate.
Saha lodged a complaint with Baranagar police station in 2021 after Bhattacharya failed to deliver on his promises. Officers of the police station had started an investigation but it was later taken over by the detective department of the Barrackpore commissionerate.
Bhattacharya, who was attached to the eighth battalion of Kolkata police as an assistant commissioner, was summoned for questioning to the headquarters of the commissionerate in Barrackpore, in North 24-Parganas district, on Friday.
He was arrested at night after several hours of questioning.
He was produced in a Barrackpore court on Saturday and remanded in police custody.
While probing Saha’s complaint, officers learnt about another allegation against Bhattacharya — he had collected Rs 30 lakh from a resident of Uttarpara in Hooghly after promising to arrange a liquor licence for him and a job in the state housing department for his wife.
“In both cases, Saha and the Uttarpara resident were made to sign documents that looked exactly like the documents required for bagging a liquor licence from the excise directorate,” said a senior police officer.
“Saha’s sister was made to appear in an interview which turned out to be a fake one.”
The police said they were investigating to find out whether Bhattacharya had duped other people.
Officers said they would also find out whether Bhattacharya had links in government departments and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and whether there were touts offering jobs for money.
Seven officers to join CBI job probe team
The CBI has formed a seven-member team to help its sleuths in Kolkata investigating the alleged irregularities in recruitments in government-aided schools, agency officers said on Monday.
Officers from Delhi, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Dhanbad and Bhopal have been inducted into the seven-member special task force, which has been set up to expedite the inquiry. “These officers will be here till May 30,” said an officer. “Depending on the progress, their stay can be extended.”
Insiders said till now eight officers were probing the alleged irregularities.
Calcutta High Court has repeatedly pulled up the CBI for being slow with the probe.
Calcutta High Court order
Justice Rajasekhar Mantha on Monday directed the CBI to find out whether there is any link between the school job scam and an alleged racket in Medinipur that promised government jobs for money.
