A college teacher, wanted for allegedly writing an objectionable letter to two Jadavpur University officials, was arrested from a hotel in Odisha on Sunday in connection with a case of molestation registered against him at Tala police station.
Police identified the accused as Rana Roy.
Roy, in his 40s, is a teacher in a college in Coochbehar. According to the police, he often remained absent from the college where he taught.
Roy lives in Belgachia Veterinary College LIG Housing, the police said.
Roy had allegedly stalked and molested a woman in north Calcutta, for which a case was lodged against him at Tala police station on Saturday.
“He has been arrested under sections of stalking, outrage of modesty of a woman, cheating and criminal intimidation. The complainant had also mentioned that Roy used to impersonate a senior government official by using a fake board on his vehicle,” said a senior officer of Calcutta police.
Roy, the police said, was also wanted for allegedly sending a threat letter to senior Jadavpur University officials a few days ago.
A complaint lodged by one of the senior JU officials on Friday had named Roy, the police said. The police are verifying his involvement in the case.
The letter threatened the JU officials with dire consequences if any harm was done to Sourav Chowdhury, who is the prime accused in the death of a 17-year-old first-year undergraduate JU student at the university’s main hostel on the night of August 9.
The letter, which was in the form of a postcard and sent through ordinary post, had said the sender was a “professor”.
The letter said: “Sourav is a pride of our university and if any scratch appears on Sourav, you will be held responsible. Sourav should not be harmed in the name of a probe. If any harm is done to Sourav, you will garlanded with shoes and forced out of the university. It would not be much of a trouble for me to spare a revolver bullet for you.”
The police said they received a complaint at Tala police station on Saturday.
“The woman who lodged the complaint alleged that Roy had stalked her, made indecent gestures by exhibiting his private parts, insulted her modesty by hurling filthy expletives at her, proposed her indecently by sending her a letter and finally outraged her modesty on August 17 by hugging her with malafide intention,” an officer said.
While conducting searches, the cops did not find Roy at his home. They located him at a hotel in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
During the investigation, the police found that Roy had allegedly cheated a few people of their money, amounting to Rs 62,000.
“Roy is also an accused in another molestation case, which was recorded at Tala police station in 2019. He was chargesheeted in that case and had been absconding. An arrest warrant was issued against him by the Sealdah court for remaining absconding and he was arrested in Belgachia in February 2023,” said Shankha Shubhra Chakrabarty, joint commissioner (crime), Calcutta police.
Roy was out on bail since February.
The police said after verifying Roy’s involvement in sending the threat letter to the JU officials, they would seek his custody in the JU case as well.
Roy had, however, purportedly claimed ignorance before the police regarding the threat letter that was sent to two senior officials of JU, a police officer said.
Roy was produced before a court on Monday in connection with the molestation case, for which he has been remanded to police custody for two days.