Two Bengal Police officers arrested in Daspur extortion case

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The West Bengal CID on Friday arrested two state police officers including an inspector, for their alleged involvement in an extortion case in West Midnapore district's Daspur, a senior CID official said on Friday. The officers were arrested after large amount of unaccounted cash were recovered from their residences during a search operation. The sleuths have already raided the houses of several police officers including former West Midnapore district police chief Bharati Ghosh and her husband in relation to the case.

"Inspector Subhankar De and Sub-Inspector Chitta Pal have been arrested in ongoing operations of Daspur case on Friday. In earlier searches, unaccounted cash of Rs 40 lakh and Rs 16 lakh were recovered from the residences of De and Pal respectively," Deputy Inspector General, CID, Nishad Parvez said in a release. "Before during and after the arrests all concerned legal requirements were strictly fulfilled. The two accused would be forwarded to court on Saturday," he said.

According to CID sources, Pal was posted as officer in charge of West Midnapore district's Ghatal while the other served as the circle inspector of the same region when the incident of extortion took place.

The CID earlier seized more than Rs. 2.4 crore in cash, several important government documents and an array of sealed liquor bottles while raiding a number of flats in an apartment in Kolkata's Madurdaha, suspected to be owned by Bharati Ghosh. Parvez further stated that CID teams have fanned outside the state to conduct search operations and take legal action against the other suspects and accused.

A voice message, purportedly from Ghosh, surfaced a few days back in social media claiming that her south Kolkata residence was also raided without proper search warrant while her husband was kept locked in a room. The message further stated that Ghosh, currently outside West Bengal, would take legal action against the raiders on her return. The CID raids started following a case of extortion and criminal conspiracy was lodged in West Midnapore district's Daspur on February 1 after a gold trader named Chandan Majhi complained against some police officers in the district thought to be close to former SP Ghosh.

Ghosh, once a favourite of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, reportedly fell from grace and sought voluntary retirement after being transferred to a less significant post as commandant of the State Armed Police's Third Battalion.

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