Special Task force arrests Kolkata Port chairman on bribery charges

The STF said it has recovered Rs 20,00,000 from R P S Kahlon

The Special Task Force (STF) on Wednesday late night arrested the chairman of Kolkata Port, R P S Kahlon and a Kolkata-based businessman, D D Jagtap Dattaji on charges of corruption.

According to STF, Kahlon was "caught red handed" while accepting money from Dattaji "to grant certain favours" to the latter's firm, Bharat Kolkata Container Terminals Pvt. Ltd (BKCT).

Debabrata Sinha, judge in chair of the 4th Special Court ordered the chairman of Kolkata Port to be placed under police custody till 17th of this month. Instructing the police not to resort to any form of torture on the accused during the custody period, Sinha ordered "regular mental check-up" to be carried out on Kahlon.

 

Officials in STF told Business Standard that based on information received from their sources, they raided the place (a posh hotel in south Kolkata) where a meeting between Dattaji and Kahlon was taking place and caught the public service official red handed while accepting money from the businessman.

"Charges of acceptance of illegal gratification and abetement for such offence has been levelled against the accused", on official in STF said.

The STF said it has recovered Rs 20,00,000 from Kahlon and Rs 11,00,000, an American Express bank account and Mumbai-Kolkata flight tickets from Dattaji's hotel room.

However, Kahlon's defence has contested the charges brought against him stating there is no proof of acceptance of any offer.

"There was some money with Dattaji and some of it was kept in his room. However, there is no proof that Kahlon had accepted the money. The STF had found it from his car", the government official's defence lawyer, Amit Bhattacharya told this newspaper.

According to Bhattacharya, there is not enough "tangible proof" against Kahlon while the accused' family believes Kahlon has been framed.

Kahlon, a 1984-batch IAS officer from the West Bengal cadre, was serving the state environment department as its principal secretary before taking over as chairman of Kolkata Port Trust. Previously, he also served other state departments including transport, fisheries, sports and youth services, fire services, disaster management, health and family welfare and labour under key portfolios.