An employee of the Victoria Memorial Hall has been arrested for allegedly siphoning off more than Rs 11 lakh that was collected through the sale of tickets and annual passes, police said.
Ticket sales clerk Swapan Dey was arrested from his Tollygunge home in south Kolkata on Sunday night for alleged siphoning off Rs 11,50,940 from the Victoria coffers, an officer said. He has been remanded in police custody till August 20.
According to Victoria Memorial officials, the daily earnings from ticket sales vary between Rs 70,000 and Rs 80,000. The amount goes up during festivals and holidays.
Dey, the police said, had been working at the Victoria Memorial for more than two decades. He had been posted at the ticket counter of the marble monument since 2014.
The police said a complaint was lodged with Hastings police station on July 15, alleging that the ticket sales clerk had gone missing with more than Rs 11 lakh. The amount was earned through the sale of tickets and annual passes.
The Victoria Memorial, spread across 57 acres, attracts tourists from across the globe. The tickets for the museum and the garden on the premises are separate. The memorial also offers annual membership schemes for morning and evening walkers and senior citizens who wish to access the gardens on a daily basis.
The Victoria Memorial’s curator and secretary, Jayanta Sengupta, said the theft was detected recently and reported to the police after the employee concerned stopped coming to work.
“It was detected a few weeks ago. We immediately confronted the employee but he failed to turn up for his duty after that. We immediately reported the matter to Hastings police station,” Sengupta told The Telegraph on Monday.
Dey, the accused, has been charged under IPC sections related to criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy.
“The complaint talks of siphoning off of Rs 11.5 lakh. The actual amount stolen could be more than that. We are questioning him for more details,” an officer said.
“Dey has admitted to the offence and claimed that he was in need of a large amount of money to repay his debts, which he had taken to gamble on horse racing. We will verify his claims,” a senior officer said.
