Bidhannagar police bust gang duping businessmen with fake tenders for Bengal school uniforms
Times of India | 31 July 2024
Representative Image (Picture credit: IANS) KOLKATA: Bidhannagar police have busted a racket that has duped several businessmen in Bengal and other states for several crores under the pretext of securing contracts for making school uniforms, bags and socks that the Bengal government distributes to school children for free.
Women from self-help groups usually make these clothes through the Anandadhara project.However, cops have learnt that several fraudsters in the state have been accused of embezzling crores of rupees from businessmen around the country for falsely promising them contracts for the same.
Several complaints have been filed at the Bidhannagar South and East police stations under the Bidhannagar Commissionerate. In the course of the investigation, the police have already arrested 12 accused men and have recovered over 1.5 lakh school bags and 3.5 lakh uniforms.
On Tuesday, B Varun Chandra Shekhar, Joint Commissioner (Headquarters) of Bidhannagar Commissionerate, held a press conference and stated that this racket has been operating for a long time. They would extort large sums of money from various organizations under the guise of securing contracts through the Anandadhara project, promising tenders and work orders in return. They would ask for some money as 'cut money' for processing fees and commissions. The fraudsters would meet clients either in front of the Panchayat and Rural Development office in Salt Lake or in reputed hotels in the city.
They would also suggest that after receiving the contract, the organization could have the uniforms, socks, and bags made by their known contacts in the state to reduce costs and increase profits. They even showed a warehouse in Dankuni to the clients. According to the police, several items were pre-stored there to deceive the clients. On Monday, the police raided that warehouse and recovered 97,000 school bags, 3 lakh school uniform materials, and 3.84 lakh socks.
The deputy commissioner further informed that the first complaint regarding this matter was filed at Bidhannagar South police station in July 2023. The police had arrested eight accused individuals at that time.
In June of this year, Gurugram businessman Kunal Bandyopadhyay filed a similar complaint. Based on that complaint, the police arrested Subhashish Singh, Sanjeev Chakraborty, and Ritusree Sengupta, among others.
Anandadhara project CEO Sudip Sarkar was also present at the press conference. He stated that the self-help group women make these uniforms for children, and no external organization is given the contract. He urged everyone to verify everything before falling into any traps.