Man in net for duping Rs 5cr

Kumar Aditya Ganguly

TT, Dec. 29: A man in his mid-30s who has allegedly duped people of nearly Rs 5 crore by posing as an astrologer, a share trading expert and a friend of several Bengal bureaucrats has been arrested by Calcutta police in Tripura.

Kumar Aditya Ganguly, who the police said was at large for six years, was picked up from his Banamalipur house, off the Assam-Agartala Road, on Wednesday. He has been brought to the city and remanded in police custody till January 10.

Some of the alleged victims of Ganguly tried to assault him when he was taken to the Alipore court today.

The police have traced three demat accounts of Ganguly through which he had apparently invested his victims' money in the share market.

"Ganguly has duped at least 31 people. He had collected from them Rs 4,96,95,200 over the six years he had lived in a Garfa apartment as a tenant," said Vishal Garg, joint commissioner of police, detective department.

The police said Ganguly had rented the apartment in 2004 posing as an astrologer. "He used to sell fake stones to the people who would visit his apartment for consultation," an officer of the detective department said.

"He told people living in the Garfa area that he was also a share market expert and that he was close to several senior officials in the Bengal government."

Ganguly stayed in Garfa till 2010, before shifting base to Tripura without telling anyone in the neighbourhood.

According to a complaint lodged by Ananda Mandal, the accused had taken Rs 10 lakh from him saying he would arrange for him an excise licence for setting up a liquor shop.

A woman had sold her properties and jewellery to raise Rs 1.2 crore, which he handed over to Ganguly for investment in shares. "The accused had promised her tenfold return in one year," another police officer said.

Drug arrests

Five people were arrested with 30kg of marijuana worth Rs 30 lakh from Jagatpur near Baguiati late on Wednesday. The arrested have been identified as Jahangir Sheikh, Bili Bibi, Manish Kumar Shaw and Jahnvi Shaw. Sheikh and Bibi used to bring marijuana from Northeast through Siliguri, while the Shaws would sell it, police said.