The main accused in the fake COVID-19 vaccination racket in Kolkata is likely to be charged with an “attempt to murder” under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code by the police. He was arrested on Friday by the Kolkata police for running the racket.
The accused have been identified as Debanjan Dev, who had disguised as an IAS officer to run the scam, was arrested after Trinamool Congress leader Mimi Chakraborty filed a complaint against him.
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Three more associates of Dev were arrested on Saturday morning in connection with the dubious COVID vaccination camps in Kolkata, a senior police officer said. Two of the associates were signatories of the bank account that was created in the name of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) by the accused, the officer said.
The third person, who was on the payroll of Deb, had actively taken part in the camps where several people were “inoculated” by spurious vaccines, he said. “One of them is a resident of Salt Lake, while another is from Barasat. Both were called for questioning before they were arrested,” the officer said.
The third person, a resident of Taltala, was arrested after police found him to be “very active” in helping organising the camps, he said. Meanwhile, three more cases were registered against Deb at the Kasba police station, the police officer said.
“A private firm which claimed to have given him about Rs 1.2 lakh to get around 172 employees inoculated lodged a complaint at the Kasba police station. Another complaint was lodged by a contractor who claimed to have paid him Rs 90 lakh to get the tender for the construction of a stadium,” he said. “The third complaint was filed by a pharma company that paid him Rs 4 lakh to get a tender,” he added.
Deb was arrested on Wednesday for posing as an IAS officer and organising a COVID-19 vaccination camp in the Kasba area, where actor and Trinamool Congress MP Mimi Chakraborty also got her jab. Chakraborty said she became suspicious about the vaccination process as she did not receive the customary SMS that is sent to people after they are administered a dose, and informed the police.
Investigations revealed that Deb also conducted another vaccination camp at a college in the north Kolkata’s Amherst Street area where several teachers and students took the vaccine.
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