Debanjan Deb, the accused in Kolkata’s fake COVID-19 vaccination racket, has admitted to organising two such camps in the city, police said on Sunday. According to police, Deb confessed to organising fake vaccination camps – one at north Kolkata’s City College and another in his office in south Kolkata’s Kasba, news agency ANI reported.
“[Deb]…wrote letters to government agencies, [and he] would put receipt stamps on them to convince victims,” police told ANI, adding that Deb would himself pen down a response to the letters he wrote to the government agencies.
Police further stated that the accused claimed to have written a mail to Serum Institute of India (SII) in Pune for sending Covishield, and that the same is being verified. They said no other fake Covid-19 vaccination camps were organised in the city by Deb besides the ones in City College and Kasba, ANI reported.
Meanwhile, a team of police officials conducted a raid at the residence of Debanjan Deb, and seized forged documents of different departments, and some stamps, ANI reported. Besides, three debit cards and bank passbooks were seized from the accused’s residence.
Among the recovered stamps, some are of government departments such as Department of Information and Cultural Affairs, Public Works Department, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and West Bengal State Election Commission (WBSEC), ANI reported. Furthermore, as many as eight bank accounts, associated with Deb, have been detected till now and of these, one was in the name of his company WBFINCORP, through which he used to give salary to his staff, police told ANI.
{{/usCountry}}Among the recovered stamps, some are of government departments such as Department of Information and Cultural Affairs, Public Works Department, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and West Bengal State Election Commission (WBSEC), ANI reported. Furthermore, as many as eight bank accounts, associated with Deb, have been detected till now and of these, one was in the name of his company WBFINCORP, through which he used to give salary to his staff, police told ANI.
{{/usCountry}}According to the ANI report, Deb’s staff and ex-staff are being examined by police. “Ten such persons have been summoned for examination or are being examined,” police said, adding that more people are being examined for “cross-examination.”
This development comes after the Kolkata Police on Saturday held three more persons in connection with the fake vaccination racket. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has already been formed to investigate the matter that was busted after Bengali actress and ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mimi Chakraborty along with another TMC leader received fake Covid-19 shots at the camps in north and south Kolkata organised by Deb.
Investigation has so far revealed that more than 800 people have received fake jabs, but police said the number could increase. Deb, who was masquerading as an IAS officer, was eventually arrested on Wednesday based on Chakraborty’s complaint.