Debanjan Deb's bodyguard arrested

Kolkata: The police have arrested the bodyguard of fake IAS Debanjan Deb on Thursday night for his alleged involvement in fraudulent activities.

Arabinda Baidya, who was recruited by Deb, reportedly had the knowledge of fraudulent activities of his employer. Police also claimed that Baidya had taken active participation and helped Deb in some of the illegal acts as well. Baidya has been remanded to police custody till July 5 after being produced at the Alipore court.

Earlier, Baidya claimed that he was unaware of Deb's illegal acts as he was convinced that his employer is an IAS officer and Joint Commissioner of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Baidya claimed to be a former Border Security Force (BSF) personnel who was recruited by Deb using a forged letterhead of the state Home and Hill Affairs. Using the letterhead, a notification was published and the date mentioned was December 19, 2020. In the letter, it was mentioned that Baidya is being recruited as the Personal Security Officer (PSO) of Deb as per the request made by the Joint Municipal Commissioner.

Baidya had claimed that seeing Deb's activity he did not suspect any ulterior motive as his employer used to distribute masks, sanitisers, gloves and other objects even in the Kasba police station. Also, seeing the car fitted with a blue beacon and a flag of Biswa Bangla, he was more convinced. Baidya also claimed that Deb had instructed him not to interact with any of his office employees and disclose any information about his movement, which he followed accordingly. However, police suspect that after Deb was arrested, Baidya was trying to defend himself. It is impossible that Baidya did not know anything despite accompanying Deb for the past few months.

Sources informed that the police have recorded statements of a few witnesses and also sought information from Google about Deb's email details. Also, the Serum Institute authority has been asked to inform if any email has been received from Deb.

Meanwhile, the state government on Thursday submitted a report in connection with the fake vaccination camp to the Calcutta High Court. The Court raised the question as to how Debanjan Deb put a blue beacon and used tinted black glass on his car, which the police did not notice. The court asked for a report of all blue and red beacon car holders' information of the state in the next hearing scheduled for July 5.