Four persons have been arrested for allegedly duping a former MLA out of nearly Rs 2 crore by promising him high returns on his investments.
The deputy commissioner of the Bidhannnagar commissionerate’s detective department, Biswajit Ghosh, said the four were arrested based on a complaint lodged by Tanmoy Mondal, the former MLA, with Baguiati police station in March.
“Mondal had complained that he had sent Rs 1.78 crore through various bank transfers to the account numbers provided by three women and a man, who claimed to be senior officials of an investment firm. We are checking whether this firm exists or not,” Ghosh said.
Multiple calls from this newspaper to Mondal, who represented the Rajarhat-Gopalpur constituency, on his cellphone went unanswered. A text message was sent, too, but there was no reply till late on Thursday.
The four were arrested on Wednesday evening from an insurance broking firm on Hare Street by a team from Baguiati police station, another officer said.
Mondal had been suspended from the Trinamul Congress in 2009, sources in the party said. He is back in the fold but with limited clout, they said.
The officer said Mondal has mentioned in the complaint that three women and a man had approached him posing as officials of an investment firm and lured him into “investing in various schemes and stocks” with the promise of lucrative returns.
They allegedly gave Mondal various forms and account numbers, where he deposited Rs 1.78 crore through multiple bank transfers.
“When time came to get the returns, the four stopped communication with Mondal. He then approached Baguiati police station. He gave us the account details where he had transferred the money and the cellphone numbers from which the four used to contact him,” the officer said.
The four were apparently tracked down to an insurance broking firm on Hare Street. “Our officers raided the firm and arrested them. We are trying to find out what they did with the money,” deputy commissioner Ghosh said.
The four accused are Jayashree Das, Sumitra Saha, Sunita Dey Bhattacharya and Tuhin Samanta.
The accused were produced in a Salt Lake court and remanded in police remand on Wednesday.