Kolkata, Jul 11 (IANS): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has taken into custody a local youth in Kolkata for duping individuals and entities on the pretext of getting tenders from the West Bengal Health Department.

The arrested individual has been identified as Budhaditya Chattopadhyay, a resident of Kasba area in South Kolkata. He used to pretend to be a Harvard University research scholar and dupe several people of crores of rupees promising them to get their tender applications with the state Health Department passed.

The ED started the investigation based on a case filed in the matter in 2022. As the investigation proceeded, the investigating agency uncovered that the fraud had been taking place since 2019 and on Wednesday, they finally arrested the ringleader behind the scam.

Besides duping individuals of amounts ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1,00,000, the accused allegedly also duped a Bengaluru-based organisation of Rs 26 crore.

As per the estimates of ED officials, he has duped over Rs 35 crore from different individuals and entities since 2019.