Two constables of Calcutta police have been arrested for allegedly being part of a drug racket that was supplying heroin to peddlers in Calcutta.
The special task force of Calcutta police arrested Palash Biswas and Subrata Biswas at a hideout in Gaighata, North 24-Parganas, early on Sunday after their names emerged in connection with the drug racket that was unearthed by the city police two days ago.
Both are constables of the armed police wing of Calcutta police and are residents of Bongaon, North 24-Parganas.
An officer of the special task force said the lead came on March 12 when they arrested three men for alleged possession of heroin worth more than Rs 5 crore.
The trio — Fani Biswas, Raju Biswas and Sambit Ray — were arrested on Strand Road following a tip-off and heroin weighing 1.132kg was seized from them.
Fani and Raju are from Bongaon, while Sambit is from Odisha.
“During interrogation, Fani Biswas and Raju Biswas said they had received the supply from two of their neighbours in Bongaon who used to go to Calcutta frequently. On further investigations we found that both are constables of the Calcutta police and used to boast they would never get caught as they were cops themselves,” said an officer of the special task force.
The sleuths also came to know about the involvement of another person in the case - Prasanta Sikdar, a drug peddler from Bongaon.
By the time the police raided the houses of Palash Biswas, Subrata Biswas and Prasanta Sikdar, the news of the arrest of the others in Calcutta had reached them and none could be found at home.
Based on inputs from sources, the STF team raided a small house inside a poultry farm at Gaighata, around 5km from Bongaon, and found all three there.
They were arrested early on Sunday and produced in the court later in the day.
The three have been sent to judicial custody. Those arrested on Strand Road are in police remand.
Several police officers described as “very unusual” the involvement of policemen in a drug racket. “It is learned from the neighbourhood where the two live that they used to boast about their high-level contacts and that no one could touch them because they are cops,” said an investigator.
Sleuths said they were trying to find out whether the constables had been acting as carriers and supplying drugs to places where they had easy access because of their uniform. Both cops were suspended on Sunday and a departmental inquiry has been initiated against them, sources at Lalbazar said.
