A doctor at a city hospital, his driver and a professional typist have been arrested in connection with a threat letter to Calcutta University vice-chancellor Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee that said her husband, former chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, would be killed.
Police have arrested Arindam Sen, 41, of Raja Rammohan Roy Sarani, his driver Ramesh Shaw, 43, and Bijoy Kumar Kayal, 65, a typist who sits near the spot where Bijon Setu merges with Rashbehari Avenue.
“Arindam Sen is attached to KPC Medical College and Hospital. A preliminary inquiry has revealed that he had sent similar letters to various government officials over the past two years. He used to hand over the draft of the letters to his driver, who would go to the typist and get them typed. Then the letters would be mailed through post offices across the city,” said an officer of the detective department.
The police said a lab attendant at Rajabazar Science College, whose name was used to undersign the letter sent to Chakravarti Banerjee, is Sen’s tenant at his north Kolkata home.
An officer said the tenant had a dispute with Sen a few months ago.
The police said their probe had revealed that at least seven letters — including the one to Chakravarti Banerjee — were despatched on October 25 from Sarat Bose Road post office. “All the letters were sent by Sen,” said an officer.
“The letters were addressed to the state’s director of medical education, principal of the NRS Medical College and Hospital, Calcutta University’s VC, principal of the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital and a few others. We have recovered the letter sent to NRS hospital, where it was written that there would be a doctor’s agitation in the hospital in which two doctors would die,” the officer said.
Police sources said that during the investigation, officers first stumbled upon the name and identity of the typist.
First, Kayal was arrested on Monday afternoon. Pursuing his statement, the police said they arrested Sen and his driver Shaw.
Sen has purportedly told the police that he was under a “lot of stress” that drove him to commit a “mistake”, an officer said.
The three were produced in a court on Tuesday. Sen’s defence lawyer denied all charges against his client and said this was a “political case”.
The public prosecutor said charges of impersonation and forgery should be added as the sender had impersonated a different person in each of the letters.
The court after hearing the arguments of both sides sent the three accused to police remand till November 12.
The police have charged the trio under IPC sections related to defamation, impersonation of a government official, criminal intimidation and common intention.
Theft reported at Ex-ADM home in Haridevpur
A theft was reported at the Haridevpur residence of a former bureaucrat — Ajay Bhattacharya — who had retired as an additional district magistrate.
Police said Bhattacharya had gone out of station on October 12. The theft was spotted by a neighbour on Tuesday who saw the padlock on the main door broken and alerted the family that is yet to return to their southwest Kolkata residence.
As Bhattacharya was informed of the incident, he alerted one of his relatives who had lodged a complaint. A case of burglary has been initiated. Officers of the anti-burglary section of the detective department have been informed. No arrest has been made till Tuesday evening.