Former NDA leader arrested from Bihar in Bengal multi-crore fraud case

Kolkata, Oct 11 (IANS) The police arrested a former National Democratic Alliance leader from Bihar for allegedly operating a fraud ring worth crores of rupees in Bengal, said a police officer on Saturday.

The intelligence unit of the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate arrested the accused, identified as Rajeev Ranjan Kumar from Bihar.

Rajeev Ranjan, who had contested unsuccessfully the 2020 Bihar assembly elections from Sasaram constituency as a candidate of Bhartiya Sablog Party, was apprehended in connection with two separate fraud cases filed at the Salt Lake East Police Station here in September, according to the Bidhannagar police.

A senior officer of the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate said, "The officers arrested him earlier this week after conducting a raid in Bihar. There are two fraud cases against him. An investigation has started."

Over the past few months, he had been residing in a house in the Salt Lake area of Kolkata. He had set up a base there and run a business that allegedly defrauded people and embezzled crores of rupees.

The police are investigating two cases registered against him. On September 7, it was reported that Rs 4.5 crore had been embezzled from a Salt Lake resident and former Calcutta High Court judge, Indrajit Chatterjee. Rajeev has been identified as one of the accused in the case.

On September 14, a second case was lodged by a resident of AJ Block, alleging that Rajeev had forged documents and records to fraudulently sell a house worth Rs 1 crore in CD Block, in Kolkata's Salt Lake.

According to police sources, Rajeev had committed these two major frauds in the Bidhannagar East police station area and had fled to Bihar, sensing trouble. After receiving this information, the police formed a team to investigate and arrest the former NDA leader from Bihar.

“Officers from the Bidhannagar police arrested him earlier this week following a raid in his Bihar hideout. There are two fraud cases registered against him, and an investigation has begun,” said a senior officer of the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate.

--IANS

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