Salt Lake: A faulty landline phone at the Salt Lake home of state security adviser Surajit Kar Purkayastha led BSNL to find the cables of more than 400 phones snipped from the distribution box near FE Block.

Police in Salt Lake have started a case under sections of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, Indian Telegraph Act and the Indian Penal Code based on a complaint by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.

Officials of the telecom operator have written to officers of Bidhannagar South police station that they received a complaint from Bhabani Bhawan on August 14 about the faulty telephone line at the FE Block home of Kar Purkayastha.

A team of BSNL officials traced the fault to the cable distribution box opposite the Netaji statue between the FD and FE islands.

"On inspecting the line, we found someone had damaged the cover of the cabinet and snipped the cables," a BSNL official said. "It appears to be a clear case of sabotage. We have reported the matter to the police."

It soon emerged that more than 400 landline phones across Karunamoyee, FE and EE blocks were not working.

The township has a large population of elderly residents, many of whom prefer landline phones. They depend on BSNL connectivity to keep in touch with children and relatives living elsewhere.

Currently, around 17,000 landline connections are active in Salt Lake.

A similar incident was reported in 2015 when more than 700 landline phones stopped working as someone fled with 135m of underground cable in Salt Lake.

"We have received a complaint from the BSNL. Preliminary investigations suggest the cables were snipped. We are scanning CCTV footage to identify the culprits," Amit Javalgi, deputy commissioner, headquarters, Bidhannagar commissionerate, said.

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