A Bangladeshi national, who had come to Kolkata for his wife's cancer treatment, was allegedly duped of Rs 10 lakh by a New Town resident.

The victim, Md Nizamuddin, a resident of Dhaka, alleged that he had given the money to the accused, Shipan Kumar Basu - who reportedly runs a religious organisation and lives in a residential complex at Thakdari in New Town - for his wife's treatment. Later, he changed his address and stopped responding to Nizamuddin's calls.

The officers of New Town Police registered a complaint of cheating and criminal breach of trust on Tuesday and started a probe. TOI tried to call Basu on his two numbers. While one of the numbers was switched off, the other one was unreachable.

Nizamuddin had come to Kolkata in May last year for his wife's ovarian cancer treatment. "The complainant says he was introduced to Basu by a friend in Bangladesh. Basu helped him a lot for his wife's treatment and getting an accommodation at a New Town guest house. Trusting him, he had transferred Rs 8 lakh to his account for the purpose of his wife's treatment as he had advised it would be easier for him to withdraw the money when needed," said an officer of Bidhannagar Commissionerate.

Meanwhile, Nizamuddin took his wife for further treatment to another hospital in Delhi for three months when Basu allegedly borrowed from him Rs 2.8 lakh. Basu has only returned him Rs 80,000 in multiple instalments, according to the police. "When he returned to Kolkata in October and sought his money, Basu allegedly started avoiding him. Nizamuddin visited his house but found he had left the house and after a few days stopped responding to his calls," said the officer.

The victim claimed to have lost his all money needed for his wife's treatment.

Source TOI

BDST: 1633 HRS, FEB 17, 2023
MSK