Uttar Pradesh police have arrested six persons from Bengal for allegedly running a fake police station in Noida (Gautam Buddha Nagar), which was involved in money laundering and extortion.

It was only last month that the special task force (STF) of the UP police busted a fake embassy in Ghaziabad, barely 30km north of Noida in the National Capital Region.

The alleged cheats from Bengal had put up a board with the name “International Police and Crime Investigation Bureau” on their Sector 70 office in Noida, resembling the boards of any police station in India. They also had a website (www.intlpcrib.in).

The police conducted a raid on the building on Sunday night based on a tip-off and arrested the six persons on Monday morning after a few hours of interrogation.

The head of the gang was Bibhas Chandra Adhikari, 57. The other alleged cheats are his son, Arghya Adhikari, 27, Pintu Pal, 27, Samad Pal, 25, Babul Chandra Mandal, 27 and Ashish Kumar, 57.

Shakti Mohan Awasthi, deputy commissioner of police, Central Noida, said the six might have been involved in money laundering.

“Bibhas, his son Arghya, their associates, Samad Pal and Pintu Pal are
from Birbhum in Bengal. Mandal and Kumar are from North 24-Parganas and Calcutta, respectively. We have also recovered some documents of the ministries of tribal affairs, Ayush and social justice and empowerment from their office,” Awasthi was quoted as saying.

“According to our primary investigation, they are involved in money laundering and also promise people to expedite their pending work at the police stations and with some ministries.”

The police said the fake police station had been opened 15 days back.

Awasthi said Bibhas had been arrested in Birbhum in the past for forgery.

Police sources said that like the fake embassy, which was unearthed on July 25 in Ghaziabad, the fake police station was also running from a rented house. The alleged cheats said it was a central government branch of police and intelligence.

“Besides other work, the cheats would also identify their victims and surprise them by claiming that they were wanted by Interpol and then extort money from them. They had identified some victims of the police and promised to take up their matters with the International Human Rights Commission,” said a police officer.

Sources claimed Bibhas was formerly the president of the Trinamool Congress’s Nalhati 2 block in Birbhum.

Bibhas was closely associated with a religious outfit and had set up an ashram in Krishnapur village of Nalhati, which became a destination for multiple political leaders. Several BJP leaders had also reportedly visited his ashram. He owned multiple educational establishments, particularly teachers’ training institutes.

Before the Noida incident, Bibhas’ name had surfaced in the primary school recruitment scam. He was allegedly involved in certain irregularities with teachers’ training institutions. Soon after Trinamool MLA Manik Bhattacharya was arrested in 2022 in the teacher recruitment scam, the Enforcement Directorate searched a flat in north Calcutta, which the ED claimed was linked to Bibhas.

After Birbhum Trinamool leader Anubrata Mondal’s arrest in the cattle smuggling case, Bibhas formed the All India Arya Mahasabha, a new political outfit.

A Trinamool source in Birbhum said that since Bibhas was involved in several fraudulent activities, the party expelled him.

Union minister of state and former BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said: “Trinamool is a party of thieves. That is why Bibhas Adhikari was defrauding people in Noida.”