Kolkata: Sudip Roy (57), a resident of Sarat Bose Road, was about to deposit some money at an ATM of a private bank on Rashbehari Avenue when a middle-aged stranger came up to him and asked whether he had submitted his KYC form to the bank. He then insisted that Mr. Roy check his KYC details online at the ATM itself. A confused Mr. Roy inserted his ATM card into the machine and typed in the PIN. The stranger noted the number and by some trickery exchanged the card with an invalid one.
The inevitable followed. Having withdrawn an amount of Rs.1 lakh, the accused also bought optical glasses worth Rs 1,952 from a nearby shop using the same card and PIN. When Mr.Roy reported the matter to Tollygunge Police Station on October 28, he told the police that the man had even changed Mr. Roy’s phone number registered with the bank from the ATM.
Soon after, a team under Additional OC Tollygunge Police Station Inspector Mr. Bodhisattwa Pramanik began investigations into the case. After meticulous investigation, a few leads emerged about the identity of the accused. A raid was conducted in the Aamtala area of Enayet Nagar under Bishnupur Police Station at midnight of October 31, leading to the arrest of Soubeer Banerjee alias Sk Shahid Alam alias Joydev Roy from his rented residence.
Nine different ATM cards in the name of different persons, including Mr.Roy’s original ATM card, Rs.6,220 in cash, bank passbooks and cheque books belonging to other people, bank deposit slips, four mobile phones including one iPhone 11, POS purchase slip, right down to the new pair of spectacles, were seized from his possession.
During interrogation, the accused revealed that he has been involved in similar offenses in the past, owing to which several criminal cases have been recorded against him, including one at Netajinagar Police Station dated October 6. However, he had managed to evade arrest thus far.
The Police personal who were involved in the arrest of the accused are Sergeant Prabhakar Bag and Sub Inspector Mr. Panchajanya Sarkar, OC Tollygunge Police Station Inspector Mr. Saroj Praharaj, and Additional OC Tollygunge Police Station Inspector Mr. Bodhisattwa Pramanik.
The accused was produced today before the CMJ, Alipore, and remanded to police custody until November 5.
Our, Reporter in Chief
R. Manoj Kumar Sharma
Siliguri City, West Bengal
