Kalicharan Bandyopadhyay, former Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to former Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, was arrested on Thursday in the Taratala warehouse collapse case. 11 people died in this accident.
The arrest came on a day when Chief Minister Shubhendu Adhikari made some comments in the Assembly without naming a person, which are believed to be a reference to the former OSD.
According to the police officer, Kalicharan Bandyopadhyay, also known as “Kali”, was detained by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the evening. After questioning he was formally arrested. He will be presented in court on Friday.
SIT conducted long interrogation before arrest
A senior police officer said, “Kalicharan Bandyopadhyay has been arrested in connection with the investigation into the Taratala godown collapse case. Before his arrest, he was interrogated by the SIT. The investigation into the case is ongoing.” Without naming him, the Chief Minister alleged that no building plan in the Municipal Corporation could have been approved without the approval of a person named “Kali”.
This matter came to light after the roof of an under-construction warehouse in Taratala collapsed. Following the accident, investigators began probing possible irregularities in the project’s approval and construction process. Bandyopadhyay, a state government employee, has previously served in the West Bengal Police. Later he joined the administrative service. When Firhad Hakim became the Mayor of Kolkata after the resignation of Sovan Chatterjee at the end of 2018, Bandyopadhyay’s association with the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) increased.
Kalicharan’s role under doubt
Apart from working as OSD to Hakim, Bandyopadhyay has also been the controlling officer of MP Local Area Development Fund and area development schemes of MLAs. “The SIT is probing what role he played in the approval process for the collapsed structure,” the police officer said. He said that Bandyopadhyay was counted among the influential officials of the Municipal Corporation and was considered to have an important role in matters related to approval of construction projects.