KOLKATA: The Special Investigation Team probing the fake vaccine racket has arrested Arobinda Baidya, the personal security guard employed by fraudster Debanjan Deb. This is the eighth arrest in the case.
Police said Baidya, a resident of AP Nagar in Sonarpur, was arrested after he failed to provide satisfactory answer to questions posed to him at Lalbazar on Thursday. Deb had employed Baidya for a monthly salary of Rs 60,000.
According to joint CP (crime) Murlidhar Sharma, not only did Baidya have knowledge of Deb’s illegal activities, he participated in some of them. Baidya is a former central force member.
The arrest came within hours of Trinamool Congress MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy sharing photographs that show Baidya standing behind the Bengal governor. “We intend to share this with SIT. We do not know the link, but we did hear a lot of things. The CM has already said none, however high and mighty, will be spared. We hope the facts come before the public,” said Roy. Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has not yet responded to the TMC statement.
Baidya’s family said he was being made a political scapegoat. “There was only once when my son met the governor at an event at a five star hotel. He has several such photographs with a number of celebrities,” said Amulya Kumar Baidya, the victim’s father.
The state on Friday filed a 13-page affidavit at the Calcutta High Court on the investigations.
The report stated the circumstances under which Deb was arrested and then went on to specify the seizures. So far, police have identified 802 persons who had been administered fake vaccines. The report also stated that Deb had carried out transactions of over Rs 2.8 crore. His aides were transferred Rs 77 lakh.
Police claimed that apart from amikacin sulphate, he might also had procured vials of triamcinolone acetonide.
Cops have already recorded the statement of actor and Jadavpur MP Mimi Chakraborty (who helped lodge the first complaint against Deb), actor and Sonarpur South MLA Lovely Maitra (who attended one of his free Covid kit distribution camps), Rajya Sabha MP Shantanu Sen (regarding Deb’s relation with IMA) and TMC leader from Taltala, Ashok Chakraborty alias Mana. The statements of a medicine supplier and an employee will also be recorded before a magistrate.
