Suvendu’s aide held for alleged role in job scam

A close aide of the Leader of Opposition in West Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari, was arrested by the Manicktala police in North Kolkata, on Saturday evening, for allegedly running a fake government job racket when the present BJP MLA of Nandigram was the state irrigation and waterways minister of the Mamata Banerjee government two years ago.

Rakhal Bera, the accused, is from East Midnapore, the native place of Mr Adhikari.

Mr Bera, along with another, Chandan Nandi from Contai in the same district, ran a camp inside a flat at the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics Cooperative Housing Society on Maniktala Road between July and September in 2019, preliminary investigation revealed. They had collected `2 lakh per head from Sujit Dey and many others promising each a Group-D level job in the state irrigation and waterways department of which Mr Adhikari was the minister, according to sources. But Mr Dey later found their promise was false

◗ THEY HAD collected `2 lakh per head from Sujit Dey and many others promising each a Group-D level job in the state irrigation and waterways department of which Mr Adhikari was the minister.

after learning that the department had not issued any recruitment notification.

The resident of Ashoknagar in North 24 Parganas lodged a complaint with the police on February 27 this year against Mr Bera and Mr Nandi among others. Later, an FIR was initiated under Sections 120B, 420, 467, 468, and 471 of the Indian Penal Code.

Mr Nandi, who is a retired employee of the irrigation department, is absconding. On Sunday, Mr Bera was produced at the Sealdah court. His lawyer, Kallol Ghosh, argued that his client was being targeted because of his links to Mr Adhikari. He prayed for his bail. The police, however, sought 14day custody for Mr Bera for his interrogation to extract further details of the job scam. Hearing both sides, the judge remanded the accused in police custody till June 12.