'Fake vaccination plotter had many plans for quick success'

Debanjan Deb, who used to fake as an IAS officer and pretend as an official of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, had multiple plans for quick success.

Kolkata: Despite being a meritorious student, the prime accused in the fake vaccination racket case, Debanjan Deb, could not achieve much in his academic career. Sleuths indicated that he was determined to use reputed private sector education institutions as stepping stones to create his own education business. Taking advantage of the pandemic and lockdown and using his fake IAS officer identity, Deb started interacting with top officials of different private institutions to set up his own chain of private online coaching centres.

However, the matter came to light before Deb could give shape to his plot. An official associated with the probe said that after conducting a search operation at Deb's residence at Madurdoho in the southern fringes of Kolkata, the cops secured several crucial documents that clearly hinted towards plots. More information on these lines was revealed after his interrogation. The seized documents include mobile SIM cards, debit cards, cheque books of multiple banks and similar documents.

In the city and on its outskirts, several institutes train and educate students in competitive exams. Several retired bureaucrats and reputed teachers are also associated with such coaching centres. Sources said that Deb's dream was to set up his own chain of coaching centres in association with reputed training institutes. For that purpose he even started contacting some high officials of these institutes and in this interaction, his masquerade as an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer was his principal shield.

Meanwhile, more revelations have started surfacing following Deb's interrogation. Deb, who used to fake as an IAS officer and pretend as an official of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, had multiple plans for quick success. He also plotted a scheme of fictitious government projects at the lands adjacent to the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass. "We wonder how a single person can plot so many dubious schemes at the same time," a probe official said.

They also feel that Debanjan could not have made progress, had the investigation started at the right time. "His father, a retired deputy collector with the state excise department, came to know almost a year back that his son was faking as an IAS officer. However, out of his affection towards his son, he suppressed the fact. Had he cautioned his son or alerted the police at that point of time, Deb could not have made whatever progress he did," a senior official of Kolkata police said. His father is currently COVID-19 positive and hence is under home quarantine at his Madurdoho residence.

It is learnt that in March last year, a verbal complaint was lodged against Deb at Bidhannagar Electronic Complex Police station. "The complaint was relating to a forgery promising jobs. However, at that point of time, there were no substantive evidence against him and so he was allowed to go after questioning," said a Kolkata Police official.

In the face of interrogation, Deb also admitted that in 2020 he rented the office at Kasba for a rent of Rs 65,000 from an individual named Ashok Ray. From this office, he used to run his fake vaccination racket. Police are now trying to track the whereabouts of Ray.