Fake vaccination plotter studied crime patterns, say investigators

Debanjan Deb always wanted to be in the limelight and project himself as something above average, according to psychologists and investigators.

Kolkata: Interrogation and digging of laptop and other gadgets of the prime accused in the fake vaccination case has led the sleuths to believe that the fake-IAS officer Debanjan Deb used to spend sleepless nights studying varied avenues and patterns of white-collar crimes. As the probe officials investigate deeper, new and amazing revelations are surfacing. Besides having a hardcore criminal bent of mind, he also had some queer psychological issues.

He always wanted to be in the limelight and project himself as something above average. Faking as an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer was probably because of this psychology, which made him determined to be in the limelight at any cost. Psychologists believe that while attempts to project him or herself as above average can inspire many to achieve that goal through hard work and dedication, for few like Debanjan the same psychology steers him to adopt unethical, unfair and illegal means.

As ETV Bharat reported earlier that because of his whimsical nature, Deb did not achieve much in his academic career despite being an above-average student. However, according to confessions given by him to police, he used to spend sleepless nights on the Internet.

And there lies another queer side of his psychology. The subject of his online studies was different patterns of crimes like how to prepare forged documents and fake rubber stamps, among others. At the same time, he also contacted some persons with similar criminal bent of mind for gaining information from them. He used the internet to study cases of reputed fraudsters and their style of operations.

"At the same time, when the idea of faking himself as an IAS officer came to mind, he first studied the lives of reputed bureaucrats in the country, their manner of interaction with people and political leaders. The search engine of his laptop seized by cops show several sites where he spent hours. Actually, he rehearsed the mannerisms of different bureaucrats and applied the same in his personal life," said a probe official on strict condition of anonymity. It is learnt that Debanjan also used to watch different Hollywood and Bollywood crime thriller movies.

City-based psychiatrist and a faculty of the KPC Medical College & Hospital. Dr Tirthankar Guha Thakurta told ETV Bharat that in psychiatry such a syndrome is called psychopathical lying, where telling lies come out of compulsions. "Maybe it is not the case of Debanjan, such psychopathical liars often speak lies without any specific motive. They cannot come out of this habit. So there are many instances where they present the same event in different formats at different times. But in this particular case, the syndrome has taken a criminal shape. However, the root is psychopathical lying. Such people need treatment at a very early stage," Dr Guha Thakurta said.

Meanwhile, the probe officials of the detective department of Kolkata Police have already talked to several relatives and childhood friends of Debanjan and learnt that this syndrome of psychopathical lying was evident in him from a very young age.

"His friends claim that often Debanjan used to tell them he has access to top film stars and film directors from Mumbai and West Bengal. He even claimed to have bagged an award at the Cannes Film Festival. He used to decorate his room with trophies, mementos and his own photoshopped pictures with different reputed film-stars. All these he did just to win the trusts of people," a probe official said