Vaccine scam: Police find eight bank accounts through which Debanjan Deb paid salaries

An investigator said the accused was claiming ignorance about the composition of the purported vaccines that had been administered at his camps

Debanjan Deb.: File photo

Special Correspondent   |   TT  |  Calcutta   |   28.06.21 :  Police have found at least eight bank accounts, including one in the name of the West Bengal Finance Corporation, through which vaccine scam accused Debanjan Deb allegedly paid salaries to his employees.

Till Saturday, the police had information about three accounts allegedly linked to Deb, one of which had been opened in the name of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation.

“We have come to know about the remaining accounts following prolonged questioning of Deb and his employees,” an officer said on Sunday.

The employees who got their salaries through accounts opened in the name of the CMC and the finance corporation were under the impression that they were on the payroll of the state government, the officer said. “We have examined 10 former and current employees of Deb, who ran an office in Kasba,” he said.

Members of the special investigation team that is probing the case visited Deb’s home on Sunday afternoon and talked to his family members. His house was searched for evidence related to the case, an officer said.

Apart from Deb, three of his alleged associates are in custody.

Deb had allegedly posed as an IAS officer and a joint commissioner of the CMC and organised a series of what he claimed Covid vaccination camps, without the mandatory clearance of the state health department. The police suspect that at least some of the recipients were given amikacin sulphate, an antibiotic.

An investigator said Deb was claiming ignorance about the composition of the purported vaccines that had been administered at his camps.

He is said to have told the investigators that he had written to the Serum Institute of India — the manufacturer of Covishield — seeking doses for his camps. “He is saying he purchased genuine vaccines from Bagree Market and the supplier handed him the doses in Kasba,” an officer said.

Investigators have found rubber stamps purportedly of the CMC, information and culture department, PWD and the West Bengal State Election Commission in Deb’s Kasba office.