Local cops search Suruchi Sangha with central force help

Kolkata: Barely 24 hours after cops raided the residence of the Biswas brothers, a large contingent of investigators accompanied by a team of central paramilitary forces on Tuesday afternoon raided the Suruchi Sangha premises in New Alipore.

The search operations were conducted in the presence of Swarup Biswas, the brother of former minister Aroop Biswas. Swarup was arrested in connection with extortion and coercion allegations.

The raid was made all the more dramatic after the cops broke through the locks to carry out the raid, the second time that they entered the premises of the club that has itched its name by organizing a popular Durga puja.

With the central forces cordoning off the New Alipore locality to prevent any possible law-and-order deterioration, the police till late evening got busy preparing a comprehensive inventory of the seized items in order to tighten the case against Swarup.

While Swarup remains in police custody, his brother, the former minister, is currently “unreachable”, claimed cops.

The high-profile raid comes less than 24 hours after investigators stumbled upon a “digitally locked room” inside the New Alipore flat of the Biswas brothers late on Monday night. After initially struggling to crack the electronic lock, cyber experts and detectives breached the room to uncover a large digital cache. According to police sources, investigators seized 14 mobile phones, two iPads, and several documents which they believe are directly linked to Tollywood’s technician guilds.

“The mobile phones will be sent to forensic experts to extract data as evidence. We are analyzing the call logs and encrypted data to understand why these devices were hidden in a concealed room,” an officer privy to the probe said.