Kolkata Man, Accused Of Fake Vaccine Camps, Was Invited To A Police Event

Debanjan Deb, the alleged vaccine fraudster in Kolkata, who held at least three phony vaccination camps where he administered 'fake' vaccines to as many as 2,000 people, had tweeted several photos with Trinamool leaders, all of whom have denied knowing him in any way and have filed police complaints seeking action against him.

Those featuring in the same frame as the man are Firhad Hakim, the outgoing mayor of Kolkata's civic body, Bengal Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee, MP Santanu Sen and MLAs Lovely Moitra and Debashish Kumar. Mr Kumar is also the outgoing mayor in council of Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

Even the police, it seems, fell prey to Debanjan Deb.

In 2017, Kolkata Police reportedly tweeted a photo of a blood donation camp held by the Anandapur police station where Debanjan Deb was on the dais, seated next to Sushanta Ghosh, the Trinamool's borough chairman. In the photograph, actor Hiran Chatterjee seen sittingg on the mic. He was then associated with the Trinamool Youth Congress. Mr Chatterjee is now the BJP's MLA from Kharagpur.

Meanwhile, Kolkata Municipal Corporation has broken a plaque at the foot of a Rabindranath Tagore statue in central Kolkata's Taltala area. The plaque had Debanjan Deb's name engraved with the title of joint commissioner of the West Bengal government. On top of his name were names of Firhad Hakim, local MP Sudip Bandopadhyay, MLAs Nayana Bandopadhyay and Tapas Roy as well as Atin Ghosh, a member of the Kolkata civic body's board of administrators.

At a press meet on Friday evening, Mr Ghosh said none of the leaders named on the plaque had gone to the inauguration of the Tagore statue on February 26 this year. That was because the local councillor had complained that she had not been invited to the event. To which Mr Hakim had said if the local councillor is not invited, then no one from the civic body would go.

When asked why the plaque was not broken earlier, Mr Ghosh said, "That was an error on our part."

Debanjan Deb may be charged with attempt to murder. Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself is believed to have instructed the commissioner of Kolkata Police to add the attempt to murder case. Amid the BJP's allegations of the ruling Trinamool Congress's involvement in the scam, Ms Banerjee has also reportedly told the Kolkata police chief that no one associated with the fraud should be spared.