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Kolkata vaccine scam: Contents of fake COVID-19 vaccines still not known to Kolkata police

The incident came to the fore when actor-turned-politician Mimi Chakraborty file a complaint with the Kolkata Police alleging that a man was running a fake vaccination centre in Kasba area in the Southern fringes of the city on Wednesday.

Kolkata vaccine scam: Contents of fake COVID-19 vaccines still not known to Kolkata police

(Representational Image: iStock)

Nearly 48 hours after people fell victim to the fake vaccination drive in Kolkatas’ Kasba area, the police and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) are none the wiser about what was injected in the name of Covid-19 vaccines.

KMC officials have said that the vials either contained plain water or some other vaccine.

“The vials are completely different from the vials the state provides. It is smaller in size without any batch number or manufacturing dates.

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“There is no expiry date even. It is suspected that the labels were created separately and pasted on the vials. We have sent the vials for forensic tests. Unless reports come in it will be impossible for us to say anything,” a KMC doctor, who has tested the people who have been vaccinated told IANS on condition of anonymity.

However, it is also pertinent to point out that as of now none of those administered the fake doses has developed any side effects, as per a KMC official.

Debanjan Dev, the man who orchestrated the fake vaccination scam, recruited people and gave them a salary. He constructed an elaborate ruse to pose as a KMC official. The city police have recovered KMC letterheads, logos, rubber stamps, and many other documents which were convincing enough that he worked for KMC.

Divulging the details of the interrogation with Dev, the City police uncovered that Dev, who was a good student – used to tell his neighbours that he is an IAS officer and worked at the level of Joint Commissioner in KMC.

Moreover he rode in a vehicle with a blue beacon light and with an armed security guard.

The incident came to the fore when actor-turned-politician Mimi Chakraborty file a complaint with the Kolkata Police alleging that a man was running a fake vaccination centre in Kasba area in the Southern fringes of the city on Wednesday.

The actor-turned-politician found the camp suspicious when she received no official confirmation after taking the vaccine from the camp on Wednesday evening and so lodged a complaint with the police.

Chakraborty said that he was approached by the man requesting her to become the chief guest in the camp and she took the Covid shot to encourage people to vaccinate themselves and help check the spread of the virus. Around 250 people were vaccinated at the camp.

Police immediately arrested one Debanjan Dev in south Kolkata, who allegedly pretended to be an IAS officer and supervised thousands of vaccinations.

(With IANS inputs)

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