Kolkata: Constable nabbed for plotting Rs 1.1 crore robbery

KOLKATA: Cops have nabbed a 45-year-old constable — posted in the 8th battalion till 2015 and currently under suspension — for masterminding a Rs 1.1 crore robbery at Taltala last July. The money was stolen from a trader and his two employees when they were walking down Lenin Sarani. Five other persons were arrested earlier in connection with this robbery.
The accused, Amiya Upadhyay, a resident of Dum Dum, who hails from Malda, said that he needed money to fight his own legal battle, the trials for which had begun. “However, his claims need to be ascertained,” said an officer. Earlier, Upadhyay had been arrested and a charge sheet against him had been submitted in the Kolkata Police constable recruitment scam case at Hare Street police station in 2015. The case was investigated by anti-fraud section and the accused is facing trial in the court of CMM in Kolkata.
Cops said the victims were forced in a car and then robbed of the money before being dumped at Tollygunge. The accused was taken into custody and questioned how he planned the incident. “Upadhyay had chosen his own men for the robbery. The other accused claimed that Upadhyay had even taught them how to act as real cops for this job,” said an investigator.
In June this year, Kolkata Police had arrested two Howrah City Police constables for being allegedly involved in the abduction-cum-robbery of a Midnapore-based silver trader at Burrabazar.
They had also recorded the statement of the inspector in charge of Botanical Garden police station, Pathikrit Chatterjee, in that case.