A man has been arrested for allegedly posing as the secretary of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and duping people for more than four years, officials of the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) said.

On December 31, officials arrested Tarun Banerjee and slapped charges of cheating and criminal breach of trust against him for posing as the CM’s secretary since March 2014.

Nishat Parvez, DIG (operations), said in a statement that a member of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness’ (Iskcon) headquarters in Mayapur lodged a complaint at Nabadwip police station against Tarun Banerjee.

Iskcon’s Tarun Gourhari Das said Banerjee introduced himself as the CM’s secretary since his first visit on March 15, 2014, and frequently visited their global headquarters in Nadia, about 124 km away from Kolkata.

He also said he was going to be posted as the district magistrate of Nadia. He used to travel in a vehicle fitted with a blue beacon, the senior CID official said. “Believing him, Iskcon offered many facilities to him. A few devotees also invested money in his so-called projects and land matters,” Parvez said.

CID officers said Banerjee was booked under sections 420 (cheating, dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 419 (punishment for cheating by personation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

When police arrested him, Banerjee was travelling in his beacon-fitted car.

First Published: Jan 01, 2019 16:48 IST