Siliguri, 29th May: Pradhan Nagar police have arrested four individuals including a fake IAS officer for cheating a Kendriya Vidyalaya teacher of ₹46 lakh on the pretext of marriage.
The incident began in 2019 when the accused contacted the teacher through a mobile message, introducing himself as Surjit Roy, a senior IAS and RAW official. Over time, he gained the teacher’s trust and spoke of marriage, falsely claiming his father was Hyderabad IG Ranjit Roy. Taking advantage of the trust, he took money from the teacher citing various family emergencies including a false claim about his mother’s heart surgery in the US.
The teacher arranged the money through her salary, a bank loan, a gold loan, and by selling her father’s shop. After realizing she had been duped, she filed a written complaint at Pradhan Nagar police station on 18th May.
Acting swiftly, the police traced the accused and arrested the main culprit, Alberuni Sarkar, from Haldibari. He is married and a father of one child. He also has a case under the POCSO Act against him. During interrogation, three more names surfaced. Barna Sarkar, Biplab Roy, and Ramnish Yadav were arrested after it was found that the cheated money had been deposited in their bank accounts.
Police have recovered assets worth around ₹19 lakh so far. All four accused were produced in Siliguri Court on Thursday and have been taken into 10-day police remand.