Mar 13, 2025 04:23 PM IST
Pradipta Raj Pandit worked as a personal assistant to Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury when the latter was a Lok Sabha member
Kolkata: A 46-year-old man who previously worked with Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was arrested on Tuesday in West Bengal’s East Midnapore district for allegedly impersonating a joint secretary-rank bureaucrat, police said.
“The accused, Pradipta Raj Pandit, was arrested on Tuesday night from his ancestral home in Sutahata’s Chaitanyapur village . He had come down from Delhi to attend a family event. He worked as a personal assistant to Chowdhury till last year when the latter was a Lok Sabha member,” a district police officer said, requesting anonymity.
“I knew this man when I was an MP. He worked as my assistant and his salary was paid by the Parliament. I am not a Parliament member any more. I don’t know anything about the charges he is facing,” Chowdhury said.
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“Police filed a suo motu case after receiving information that he tried to cheat some people by making them sign land deals. This is being probed,” the officer added.
“He cheated people by posing as a Parliament joint secretary. He used to travel in a car with a blue beacon, which was seized from his possession. A district court on Wednesday remanded him in police custody for 12 days,” the officer said.
Chowdhury, who represented the Berhampore Lok Sabha seat in Murshidabad district for five consecutive terms from 1999 to 2019, was defeated last year by former cricketer Yusuf Pathan, who was fielded by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the state.
Police said that many Sutahata residents accused Raj of throwing his weight around and demanding freebies from local traders.
Public prosecutor V K Ram told the district court on Wednesday that the accused recently sent a forged letter to the district police demanding personal security.
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