New Delhi: The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has suspended all five personnel taken into the custody of West Bengal Police for allegedly carrying out fake searches at a flat in Baguiati in the name of the Income Tax (I-T) Department last week and initiated a departmental inquiry against them, ThePrint has learnt.
The Bidhannagar City police arrested the CISF personnel, including one of inspector-rank, after investigations into a complaint by the flat resident, Vinita Singh (23). Singh alleged that a team of six, identifying as I-T officers, arrived at her door in the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday and took away cash and jewellery without giving her a seizure note.
Based on her complaint, pointing the finger at “insiders”, as well, the Bidhannagar City police first booked her stepmother Arti Singh, who has been living in the same flat, and her uncle Satender. The police slapped sections 303 (2) (theft), 318 (4), (cheating), 316 (2), (criminal breach of trust), 319 (2) (cheating by personation), 336 (3) (forgery), 338 (forgery of valuable securities), 340 (2) (using forged documents as genuine), and 61 (2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, on the two suspects.
They then arrested the driver of the pickup vehicle used for the illegal raid, and he revealed the name of the middleman who hired his service, leading the police to the doorstep of the five accused CISF personnel, Kolkata Airport Zone Deputy Commissioner of Police Aishwariya Sagar said, addressing a press conference Wednesday.
“The middleman revealed that a three-star rank officer of the CISF asked him to hire a car and that the officer further relayed the involvement of four more personnel of the rank of head constable (1), constable (2) and lady constable (1) to him,” DCP Sagar told the press.
According to the DCP, the accused woman constable, deployed with the CISF unit at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, had completed only four months of service in Kolkata.
In August last year, the Supreme Court handed over the responsibility of the security of RG Kar hospital to the CISF in the aftermath of the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in the hospital building in the same month.
The police arrested the CISF inspector from Farakka in Murshidabad, West Bengal, and the others from other parts of the state.
Speaking to ThePrint, a CISF personnel said, “A senior officer is conducting an internal inquiry, which shall be completed in a time-bound manner. Strict action shall be taken against the guilty. We are cooperating with the WB Police, and further action shall be taken based on the inquiry findings.”
‘Step-mother’s relative roped in CISF inspector’
Roughly at 2 am on 18 March, a team of six people, including a woman, arrived at a five-storey building in Chinar Park in Baguiati, Kolkata.
“They started knocking on the [building] door aggressively in the wee hours, leading to a commotion. They asked us to cooperate with them. Then, they came straight to the second floor, where I live with my family, including my stepmother, Arti Singh,” Vinita Singh told ThePrint.
She added that once in her flat, the team claimed to have come from the Income Tax Department for a raid, heading straight to one of the rooms with all the cash and jewellery.
“After staying for nearly an hour, they [the accused CISF personnel], we learnt later, left with Rs three lakh in cash and jewellery. They left without providing us any list of the items they were taking away, instead asking me to sign a blank paper with my contact details,” she said.
“They went to my grandmother’s room, and without showing any documents, they took her ornaments and other valuable articles, including cash. Then, they went to my [step] mother’s room but did not take anything from there,” the FIR read. By deceptive means, the team also made Vinita Singh sign on a paper, saying it was the seizure list, according to the FIR. A CCTV DVR was also taken away.
Vinita Singh said the team’s action in the room with the valuable items hinted at an “insider job”. Enquiring with the I-T department the next day, she became aware of the possibility of fraud in the name of I-T raids and approached the police thereafter.
In the press conference, DCP Sagar said that Vinita Singh and Arti Singh had a property dispute, with the stepmother seeking help from a relative, who, in turn, brought the CISF inspector on board with the plan.
“They [the accused CISF personnel] forged a plan to share the recoveries among them in the 50:50 ratio,” the DCP further said.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
Also Read: Amid furore over ‘assault’ on Army Colonel & son, Punjab Police book 5 accused cops, launch probe