KOLKATA: Five serving CISF personnel, all posted across vital installations in Bengal, have been arrested by Bidhannagar Police for posing as income tax officers and pulling off a dramatic heist reminiscent of the Bollywood thriller ‘Special 26’ at Chinar Park last week.
Among those arrested are an inspector, a head constable, two male constables and a female constable who was posted at RG Kar Medical College for four months following the rape-murder of a doctor at the hospital last Aug. Their names are being withheld since they will undergo a Test Identification (TI) parade this Friday in Dum Dum correctional home, where they are currently lodged. Three of their accomplices have also been arrested.
“We found that complainant Vinita Singh was in a property dispute with stepmother Aarti Singh. The latter, through a relative, contacted a CISF inspector posted at NTPC Farakka and hatched a plan to conduct a heist in Vinita’s home. It was decided that the booty would be divided equally between Aarti and the CISF personnel,” said Aishwariya Sagar, DCP (Airport). Vinita herself had sus-pected the involvement of her stepmother.
As part of the plan, the five CISF personnel and two others raided Vinita’s Chinar Park home posing as I-T officers on March 18. They arrived in two vehicles and escaped with jewellery and Rs 3 lakh in cash. They neither showed their IDs nor gave the family a seizure list.
According to the complaint filed by Vinita, when the doorbell rang in the dead of night, their security guard opened the door. The intruders included a woman and two men in police uniform and the others in plainclothes. Claiming to be I-T officers conducting raids with police backup, they swiftly confiscated all mobile phones and rounded up the family members in the dining hall.
CISF personnel suspended, may be dismissed if found guilty
According to the complaint, the gang members made a beeline for Vinita’s grandmother’s room and began searching her belongings but did not take any jewellery belonging to her stepmother Aarti. Before leaving, they took away the home’s CCTV recorder.
Police claimed CCTV footage showed the accused had arrived in a pickup van and a bike. “We tracked the driver, Shiv Mangal Gan, and arrested him from South Port area. He said he was employed by a middleman. We picked up Dipak Rana, the middleman, from New Alipore. He said he was instructed by a CISF inspector. Using technical leads, we nabbed the CISF inspector, a three-star officer, from Farraka. He revealed that four of his juniors had helped him. Accordingly, they were picked up from the Port area and Durgapur,” a police source said. More raids were being conducted to recover the booty, cops said.
CISF sources said all the accused had been suspended. “An inquiry has been initiated. If the allegations are proved to be true, they will face dismissal,” said an officer. Aarti has also been arrested.
