TMC MP Mimi Chakraborty falls for fake Covid-19 vaccination drive, gets accused arrested

Mangalore Today News Network

Kolkata, Jun 24, 2021: A man was arrested for allegedly impersonating an IAS officer and conducting a Covid-19 vaccination camp where Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mimi Chakraborty was present, police said on Wednesday.

 

The vaccination camp was organised in the name of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) at its office in South Kolkata on Tuesday.

Chakraborty took her first dose of the Covishield vaccine during the camp where she was also invited as a chief guest. The TMC MP was called in to encourage people from the transgender community and physically handicapped.

Along with Chakraborty, 200-250 people were administered the Covishield vaccine on Tuesday.

The MP, however, got suspicious when she saw that the Aadhaar card was not being used to register on the CoWin app. As a result, no one received the SMS on their mobile phone.

Speaking to India Today TV, Chakraborty said that she was told that she will get the vaccine certificate by the time she reaches home. Later, they informed saying that it will take 3-4 days.

"I got an invite that there will be a camp under KMC which will be organised for the third gender and specially-abled. I was asked to be part of it which would inspire others. I said sure if people get inspired I will go. I took the vaccine too and after taking the vaccine I did not get a message. I thought it would come later along with the certificate. I was told I would get the certificate by the time I reach home. Since I live nearby, I reached home and was later told the certificate would come in 3-4 days," said the TMC MP.

However, Mimi got suspicious when she was told that the certificate will come in 3-4 days. She even asked others who took the Covid vaccine at the camp and none of them had received any registration message or vaccine certificate.

“The vaccine certificate should not take 3-4 days. I enquired with others (who took the vaccine at the camp) whether they have got the registration message. They said they did not do any registration or didn’t receive any message. I realised immediately and with the help of the local administration and police, I got him arrested, " added Chakraborty.

Even though the vaccination camp was conducted by the KMC, the local councillor and Borough chairman Susanta Ghosh did not have any information about it. The police also did not have any information about such a camp being organised by the KMC.

According to sources, Ghosh discussed the matter with the Special Commissioner of KMC and found out that no such event was organised by the corporation in this area. After that, the police were informed.

Kasba Police reached the camp around 6 pm on Tuesday and interrogated the organisers.

According to police sources, the accused Debanjan introduced himself as the joint commissioner of KMC during the interrogation, and an identity card of an IAS officer was also shown. However, he was arrested and brought to the police station as there were discrepancies in his statement.

Debanjan finally broke down in the midst of continuous interrogation and confessed to the crime.

Several important documents, including fake identity cards, government stamps, requisition forms for collecting vaccines from health buildings were recovered from him.

A car with blue light was also seized from his possession. The police said that a flag with the logo of Bishwa Bangla was also planted in front of his car. However, the motive behind the crime is not yet clear.

Courtesy:India Today