Kolkata: Bidhannagar Police have arrested five Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel, including an inspector, for staging a fake income tax (I-T) raid in Chinar Park, bringing the total arrests to 8. Among those arrested is a female CISF constable who was posted at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital for four months, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Airport Division), Bidhannagar City Police, Aishwariya Sagar, confirmed. The CISF had been deployed there following a Supreme Court order after the brutal rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor.
The case came to light when Binita Singh, a resident of Chinar Park, lodged a complaint at Baguiati PS on March 18. She reported that around 2 am, a group entered her home, seized cash and valuables and left without providing a seizure list. They also forced her to sign a blank paper. Before leaving, they took away the CCTV DVR and told her not to contact the I-T department, claiming that the department would reach out
to her instead. However, after waiting for hours without any communication, Binita visited the I-T office, only to discover that no such raid had been conducted. Realising she had been duped, she immediately approached the police. The fraudsters had reportedly taken approximately Rs 3 lakh in cash. Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, DCP Sagar explained how the investigation unfolded.
Analysing CCTV footage from the area, officers identified two vehicles used in the raid, a pick-up van and a motorcycle. “We traced the pick-up van’s number and arrested its driver from the South Port Police Station area. Upon questioning him, we learned that he had been hired by a middleman, whom we later arrested from the New Alipore Police Station area,” Sagar said. Further interrogation revealed that the middleman had arranged the vehicle at the behest of a CISF inspector, who was tracked down and arrested from Farakka, Murshidabad. Subsequent questioning led to the identification and arrest of four other CISF personnel, including a head constable, two constables, and a female constable.
“All five are serving officers and are currently in judicial custody,” the DCP added.
During the investigation, police discovered that the fake raid had been staged due to a family dispute. The complainant, Binita Singh, had been in a long-standing property
conflict with her stepmother, Arati Singh. “Arati Singh and her relatives approached the CISF inspector and made a deal with him to conduct the raid and split the seized money equally,” DCP Sagar said.
Arati Singh has also been arrested. A Test Identification (TI) parade is scheduled for April 28.