Kolkata Police said on Sunday that two persons have been arrested for faking personal assistants (PAs) of Trinamool Congress national general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee and threatening a senior Railways officer.
The arrested persons have been identified as Bivas Sarkar and Biswanath Sarkar. City police sources said that the cops of the detective department first arrested Bivas Sarkar from the Bondel Road area in South Kolkata on Saturday evening.
In the face of the interrogation, he named Biswanath Sarkar, who was arrested from Santaldih in Purulia district on the same night, city police sources said.
It is learnt that the arrested persons are part of a racket involved in extorting people faking as close associates of influential persons with Biswanath Sarkar being the main brain behind it. It is learnt that he had sent a message from his personal email to a senior officer of the Eastern Railways for clearance of a Railways tender in favour of a particular entity. The tender value was Rs 5.87 crore.
After the email was sent, city police sources said, Bivas Sarkar reportedly called up the officer on his mobile phone. As the personal assistant of Abhishek Banerjee, he threatened the officers of dire consequences if the tender was not passed in favour of that particular entity.
The Railways officer filed a complaint at the Hare Street Police Station in Kolkata. The police started an investigation and finally on Saturday the duo were arrested.
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