BALURGHAT, Sept. 17 -- In a dramatic twist to a 2022 mobile tower battery theft case, Balurghat police arrested the very complainant who had lodged the initial complaint. The accused, identified as Kajal Mohanto of Boro Raghunathpur's Trinathpara area, was taken into custody on Tuesday night after investigators uncovered evidence against him.
Police said Mohanto had stolen batteries from a telecom tower and then filed a complaint to mislead authorities. Acting on clues developed during the probe, officers recovered 24 stolen mobile tower batteries, one SMPS and several SMPS modules. Investigators believe he carried out the thefts over several months before reporting the incident himself. DSP Headquarters of Balurghat, Bikram Prasad, told reporters on Wednesday that a case was registered at Balurghat Police Station on the specific issue by the accused himself. During examination, police gathered specific leads which led to Mohanto's detention. He was produced in court, where police sought five days' custody for further investigation.
Preliminary interrogation revealed that Mohanto admitted to committing the theft and lodging a complaint to avoid suspicion. DSP Bikram Prasad said: "The investigation has revealed that the accused not only committed the theft but also attempted to mislead the police by filing a false complaint. We are now probing the insurance fraud angle."
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.