Fake vaccine drive accused charged with attempt to murder; 3 others held

MP | 27 Jun 2021| Kolkata: The Kolkata Police on Saturday arrested three associates of Debanjan Deb and slapped attempt to murder charges under Section 307 of the IPC on them in connection with the fake vaccination case. The racket was busted on Tuesday night when police arrested Deb who had masqueraded as a bureaucrat for running fake vaccine camps at a market complex in Kasba and City College in Amherst Street. 

TMC MP Mimi Chakraborty — who four days ago was tricked into taking a fake Covid jab shot by Deb — fell ill since Friday. 

She has been diagnosed with severe dehydration, low blood pressure and stomach cramps. She had suddenly started to feel weak on Friday evening and fell unconscious after a round of profuse sweating. 

She is presently undergoing treatment at her residence and doctors do not rule out that her illness could be induced by panic. 

It is learnt that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had called up Kolkata Police Commissioner Soumen Mitra on Friday night and expressed her annoyance over the incident, directing the latter to slap serious charges on Deb and take strong action against him under the ambit of the law. 

Accordingly, the police submitted a prayer before Alipore Court to slap attempt to murder charges on him considering the gravity of the offence. The sleuths submitted statements of three witnesses who suffered from some serious complications after taking the fake jab. 

"We pleaded before the court that prima facie it has been found that what was injected in the name of Covid vaccine was some other injection. We cannot tell for certain whether such an injection will have an adverse effect on any person who has been injected with it. So, we have every ground to slap attempt to murder charges on him. The court has granted the prayer," a senior police official said. 

Meanwhile, the police arrested three more persons — Santanu Manna, Sushanta Das and Rabin Sikder in connection with the case. Manna, a resident of Taltala, used to be present at the vaccination camps arranged by Deb while Das and Sikder were signatories to the fake account that was created by forging the signature of a senior Kolkata Municipal Corporation official. 

The three were remanded to police custody till July 2 by Alipore Court. Three fresh cases have been registered against Deb at Kasba police station. A private firm had paid Rs 1.2 lakh to him for vaccinating its 172 employees while a contractor was cheated of Rs 90 lakh with the promise of construction of a stadium along with a pharma company that was duped of Rs 4 lakh with a promise to get a tender. 

The state Health department in association with KMC held a camp at Kasba AC Market and City College, Amherst Street, for health check-up of those persons who had received the fake jab from camps organised by Deb. 

Around 18 family members of Trinamool Congress' 107 ward president Rabin Das had taken the fake jabs from the Kasba camp too. Some of them attended the health camp on Saturday. 

Firhad Hakim, Chairman, Board of Administrators, KMC, appealed to all citizens to take the vaccine from KMC health centres or hospitals that are approved for taking the jab and not to inoculate themselves from camps running here and there. 

The KMC on Friday night removed the plaque of the statue of Rabindranath Tagore where the name of Hakim and some leaders of TMC were spotted along with the name of Deb. "We were all unaware of our names in the plaque and no one had attended the ceremony when the statue was installed," said Hakim. The police on Friday night also questioned the owner of the shop at 9, India Exchange Place from where Deb had placed an order to purchase holograms posing as a KMC official. 

Deb used to attend a multi-gym at Kasba on a regular basis by identifying himself as an IAS officer since 2020. However, he had stopped going there from January 2021. 

Meanwhile, BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Suvendu Adhikari has written to the Union Health ministry, demanding a probe by the central agencies into this incident. 

(http://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/fake-vaccine-drive-accused-charged-with-attempt-to-murder-3-others-held-444695?infinitescroll=1)