Additional officers have been included in the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Kolkata Police probing Indranil Sen, former West Bengal Tourism Minister and former Minister of State for Information and Cultural Affairs, in connection with his alleged involvement in the multi-crore fake Durga Puja pass case linked to UNESCO-tagged festival tours.
An insider from the city police said that when the SIT was initially constituted, it had five members, and the number has now been increased to nine. The four new officers from the city police are experts in anti-forgery operations.
It is learnt that, in addition to the main fake Durga Puja pass case linked to UNESCO-tagged festival tours, the investigating officers have found specific clues about Sen's involvement in tendering irregularities in both the state tourism and information and cultural affairs departments, which has widened the scope of the investigation.
That is why, the city police insider said, the number of investigating officers in the SIT has been increased. The SIT members are already in touch with the two state government departments to procure the necessary documents required to carry forward the investigation against Sen, a singer-turned-politician.
Sen, who is currently in police custody, is being questioned by the investigating officers for marathon hours daily. Apart from that, the SIT members have questioned nine other people in the matter, the most important of which is his wife, Madhuchhanda Sen, the owner of “Mass Art”, the entity through which the fake Durga Puja passes were allegedly sold.
Sen is supposed to be presented at a lower court in Kolkata on November 10. The city police insider said that before the court visit, the investigating officers are trying to gather as much evidence-based information as possible to prevent the former minister from getting bail in the case.
The Kolkata Police and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have been conducting parallel investigations into the alleged scam involving passes for UNESCO-tagged Durga Puja tours. The Kolkata police arrested Sen after he came out of the ED's Salt Lake office on the northern outskirts of Kolkata last week.
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