An assistant sub-inspector of Calcutta police has been arrested along with two others for allegedly abducting a businessman and robbing him of cash and gold in the first week of July.
Ashish Chandra, who was posted in the crime records section of the detective department, has been suspended.
The arrest followed a complaint by the businessman from Nadia, Bablu Nath, that he had been abducted from near Surendranath College, in Sealdah, around noon on July 4 and forced into a
Tata Sumo.
The abductors snatched Rs 1 lakh and gold weighing 50g from him and threw him off the vehicle near the airport.
Nath, 51, lodged a complaint with Muchipara police station in the Sealdah area the same evening. He mentioned in the complaint that his visit to Calcutta was related to business.
A special team was formed
comprising officers of the police station and the dacoity section of the detective department of the city police to investigate the complaint.
“We came to know the registration number of the Sumo from the footage of CCTV cameras installed around the spot from where the businessman had been abducted,” an officer said.
From the registration number, the cops tracked down the owner of the vehicle and the man who was at the
wheel then.
“Nepal Chandra Dhar, the driver, said an officer of Calcutta police had hatched the abduction plot. It turned out that an assistant sub-inspector of the detective department, Ashish Chandra, was the mastermind,” an officer said.
Chandra, Dhar and a third person identified as Balai have been arrested under IPC sections related to robbery and abduction. “At least two others are at large,” the officer said.
The three arrested have been remanded in police custody till July 16.
Sources said neither the money nor the gold had been recovered till late on Wednesday.
“The arrest of the ASI is a huge setback for us, especially at a time the force is putting so much effort to improve the traffic system by conducting night raids and introducing a standard operating procedure,” a senior officer said.
