Kolkata doctor sent to custody in Tripura for cheating

A court in Tripura Saturday sent a Kolkata-based doctor to 14 days judicial custody on charges of cheating two Tripura residents by taking money and promising their sons admission in medical colleges in Bangalore.

Santanu Tathagata Pal, a radiologist who runs a clinic in Kolkata's Salt Lake City, was arrested earlier this week and presented before a court here Saturday, police said.

The court sent him to 14 days judicial custody, a police spokesman told reporters.

The court also allowed police to interrogate the doctor in jail.

Pal and another doctor Baichitra Sarkar, a physiotherapist working in a private hospital in Kolkata, took Rs.40 lakh from Dilip Bhaumik, a gynaecologist and proprietor of a nursing home in Agartala, and Rs.30 lakh from businessman Sadhan Chandra Dhar for getting their sons admitted in Bangalore-based medical colleges last year.

Police said when the parents of both the students went to Bangalore, the college authorities there refused to admit the students.

When they returned to Kolkata and took up the matter with Pal and Sarkar, both of them reportedly assured them that their money would be returned if their sons were not admitted in the medical college.

"But after repeated persuasion, both the Tripura men did not get their money back. They then lodged complaints with the police. Sarkar was arrested last year by Tripura Police with the help of their Kolkata counterparts. For several months, Pal was absconding," police said.

Several cheating cases are also pending with the Kolkata and West Bengal Police against both Pal and Sarkar. Sarkar is now out on bail.