A constable posted at Eco Park police station in New Town has been arrested for allegedly taking away nearly 15kg of silver from a jeweller from Jharkhand at the Ultadanga railway station, police said.
Somnath Das was arrested by a team from the Government Railway Police’s (GRP) Sealdah division, a GRP officer said.
According to the officer, Das and a few others had in February stopped the businessman when he was about to board a Jharkhand-bound train from the Ultadanga station.
Das allegedly told the businessman that they were police officers and wanted to search his belongings as part of a “routine search”.
“When Das saw the silver in a bag, he and the other men took the businessman out of the station and asked him to board a car,” said the officer.
Das and his associates allegedly took him to a deserted area, which the businessman could not recognise.
“They told him that they were seizing the silver and asked him to get in touch with the customs department to get it back,” said Sealdah SRP Bandana Varun Chandrasekhar.
They then dropped him off somewhere near Ultadanga. The businessman reached the station and lodged a complaint with the GRP there.
Based on the description of the men provided by the businessman and CCTV footage, the GRP zeroed in on Das.