Hummingbird News Desk
KOLKATA, 6 JUNE: A close aide of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari has been arrested for his alleged involvement in a fake government job scam.
Police said Rakhal Bera has been arrested from outside his residence on the basis of a complaint filed by one Sujit Dey at the Manicktala police station. Dey, a resident of Kalyangarh, has accused Bera and others of duping people by promising jobs in the state’s irrigation and waterways department.
Bera is considered to be a close aide of Suvendu Adhikari, a former TMC leader, who is now the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the West Bengal Assembly.
As per the complaint lodged with the police, the accused had organised a camp inside a flat at the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics Cooperative Housing Society on Kolkata’s Manicktola Road sometime between July 2019 and September 2019.
The accused ‘collected huge amounts of money’ from the public on the pretext of offering them a job in Group D (field staff) of the West Bengal irrigation and waterways department.
The complainant also alleged that the accused took Rs 2 lakhs from him but did not provide him with the government job promised during the said camp organised in 2019.
Accused Rakhal Bera, Chanchal Nandy and others have been charged under sections 120/B, 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Bera was remanded in police custody till 12 June by a Kolkata court. His lawyers told the media that he was a victim of “political vendetta” because of his proximity to Adhikari. “This is an attempt to malign the image of Suvendu Adhikari,” one of the lawyers said. Adhikari did not respond to queries from the media.
This apart, Suvendu Adhikari and his younger brother Soumendu have been booked in a case involving theft of relief material in East Midnapore district.
In this regard, an FIR was filed against Suvendu and Soumendu Adhikari for allegedly stealing tarpaulin from the Kanthi municipality office. The case has been filed against the brothers on the basis of a complaint lodged by Ratnadip Manna, a member of the municipal administrative board. Soumendu Adhikari was head of the civic body till he resigned and joined the BJP last year.
