A doctor who wanted to take a flat in New Town on rent has been cheated out of Rs 40,000 by two men from Hooghly, one of whom interacted with the doctor posing as a relative of the flat owner, police said.
A team from New Town police station arrested the two from their rented accommodation in New Town based on a complaint lodged by the doctor, an officer in the Bidhannagar commissionerate said.
The cops have identified the men as Rohit Roy, 19, and Rohit Kumar, 32.
According to the officer, Kumar had posed as son-in-law of the owner of the flat in New Town's BA Block and taken Rs 40,000 from the doctor as security deposit.
"The doctor was contacted by one of the men. The two accused then showed him the flat from outside. When he wished to enter the flat, they told him that they had forgotten to bring the keys. But they still managed to convince the doctor to pay Rs 40,000 as security deposit for taking the apartment on rent," said the officer.
The men also gave the doctor a rent agreement. But when he tried to move in, he found the flat still locked.
The officer said the accused used to keep an eye on property websites and social media groups where flats for rent are listed.
They would keep track of properties that are advertised on such websites and social media groups and would visit them as well.
"They would first get in touch with the owners or brokers who have listed the properties and then visit them saying they wanted to take the property on rent. They would also shoot videos and take photographs of the interiors of the apartments and houses that they visited," the officer said.
They would then search for people looking for apartments on rent and get in touch with them posing as owners or their relatives or brokers.
"They would take these people to the flats. But as they could not show the interiors, they would come up with an excuse and show them photographs and videos that they shot inside the properties. The complainant doctor was taken in by their claim and paid Rs 40,000," the officer said.
The doctor, after making the payment, tried to get in touch with the man who had posed as the son-in-law of the owner for the keys to the apartment, but he did not answer the calls.
"A few days later, he realised that he had been duped. He then came to us for help and lodged a complaint," the officer said. "We have received a number of similar complaints against Roy and Kumar."
Fatal mishap on Setu
Police identified the victim as Subhasish Dutta, 30, a resident of Girish Banerjee Lane in Shibpur, Howrah.
An officer said Dutta and Sarfarajuddin Sardar, 25, who is a resident of Golam Hossain Sardar Lane in Shibpur,
were moving along the city-bound flank of Vidyasagar Setu towards the Esplanade ramp when the accident happened.
“We found one helmet at the spot. It is not clear who among the two was wearing it,” said the officer.
Both were taken to SSKM Hospital where Dutta was declared dead. Police said Sardar has been admitted to the trauma care unit of the hospital with multiple injuries.
A case against an unknown person has been registered at Hastings police station under IPC sections related to rash and negligent driving, causing death due to negligence and mischief.
An officer of the fatal squad of the traffic department, which has taken over the case, said they were collecting CCTV footage to identify the vehicle that hit the two-wheeler.