India News | Kolkata Fake Vaccination Case: Special Court Directs Correctional Home Super to Assist ED Officials in Interrogation of Accused

Kolkata, Sep 2 (PTI) A special court Thursday directed the superintendent of a correctional facility here to assist Enforcement Directorate officials seeking to interrogate Debanjan Deb, who was arrested for operating dubious COVID-19 vaccination camps in the metropolis.

The special CBI court judge asked the superintendent of the Presidency Correctional Home to cooperate with the investigating officer (IO) and other ED officials for recording the statements of the accused.

Also Read | Rajnath Singh Reviews Preparations For DefExpo 2022, Says ‘Aim Is To Reduce Dependency on Defence Imports’.

"For the interest of justice, the IO Diyendu Modak, assistant director, ED is permitted to visit Presidency Correctional Home along with other ED officials for the purpose of interrogation and record the statements of Debanjan Deb, Robin Sikdar, Susanta Das, Santanu Manna, Kanchan Deb, Sarat Patra, Ashok Kumar Roy and Arabinda Baidya," the judge said in the order.

The court directed the IO to file a report by the next date of hearing on November 8.

Also Read | IIT-JEE Mains Entrance Exam: CBI Books Affinity Education Pvt Ltd, Its Directors for Alleged Irregularities in Conduct of Examination.

Debanjan Deb was arrested by the Kolkata Police on June 23 for masquerading as the joint commissioner of Kolkata Municipal Corporation and operating a fake vaccination camp at Kasba in the southern part of the city, where actor and Trinamool Congress MP Mimi Chakraborty was also jabbed.

The others, alleged to be his associates, were arrested later by the city police.

The ED, which had registered a case of money laundering in the matter related to fake inoculation, claimed before the court that its officers have been visiting the correctional home, but they did not find the accused persons who were to be interrogated.

Special public prosecutor Abhijit Bhadra, representing the ED, submitted that it is necessary to quiz and record their statements, and prayed for passing necessary orders directing the superintendent of the facility to extend cooperation for the purpose.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)