5 CISF personnel, 3 others held for allegedly looting house in guise of IT raid
The arrested CISF personnel include an inspector, a head constable, and three constables, including a lady constable
Kolkata: Five Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel, including a lady constable, and three others were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly looting a house in the guise of an Income Tax raid near Kolkata on March 18, police said.
The arrested CISF personnel include an inspector, a head constable, and three constables, including a lady constable. While the inspector was arrested from Farakka in Murshidabad district, the head constable and a constable were arrested from Durgapur. The other two were arrested from Port area in Kolkata.
“We have arrested eight persons including five serving CISF personnel. The accused persons were produced in the court and have been sent to judicial custody. Investigation is going on,” Aishwariya Sagar, deputy commissioner (airport division) of Bidhannagar city police, told media persons on Wednesday.
Police said that a woman Vinita Singh, a resident of Chinar Park in the northern fringes of Kolkata, lodged a complaint on March 18 that her house was looted in the early hours that day. The gang members identified them as IT department officials.
“They took away ₹3 lakh in cash and some jewellery without giving any seizure list to the family. They also took away the digital video recorder of the CCTV cameras installed in the house. This raised the suspicion of the family members who later lodged a complaint with the Baguihati police station,” said an officer.
Police checked CCTV cameras installed in the area and arrested the driver of the pick-up van. The driver led the cops to a middleman involved in the crime. The middleman told the cops about the involvement of the CISF personnel.
“There was a dispute going on between Vinita and her stepmother Arati Singh over property after the death of Vinita’s father. Arati knew the CISF inspector and contacted her to loot the house. It was decided that the looted items would be shared between them. Arati Singh has also been arrested,” Sagar told the media.
Police said that the accused persons were arrested under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including 303 (2) (theft), 340 (2) (using forged document), 318 (cheating) among others.
HT has sent an email to CISF, seeking their comment. The story will be updated when we get a reply.
