Kolkata CP Ajay Nand
Kolkata: Kolkata Police commissioner Ajay Nand has ordered a high-level internal probe following the arrest of traffic police sergeant Ayan Gupta, a 2010-batch officer posted at the Beliaghata Traffic Guard, by Jharkhand Police in connection with the Aug 24 murder of a Jharkhand-based businessman. Gupta’s arrest revealed that he had allegedly supplied the accused with cell-tower locations and call records at the behest of Beliaghata Traffic Guard civic volunteer Twinkle Das, who allegedly maintained contact with the killers. Nand also confirmed to TOI via text message that the inquiry was underway, though he did not provide details.
Senior officers at Lalbazar said the top brass was closely monitoring the probe. Twinkle, said to be a close associate of Raghav, has also been arrested. Gupta, a Parnasree resident, acted on requests from Twinkle, who lives in the Chaulpatti Road area, according to police sources. “Ordinary citizens — and not even traffic police personnel — can directly request mobile tower logs or location-tracking data because of privacy and legal restrictions,” said a senior officer.
A traffic sergeant in Kolkata Police is not authorised to access or provide such data. After the matter came to light, Nand ordered the internal probe. The local traffic guard has completed its preliminary inquiry and submitted its findings to Lalbazar. The police headquarters is now seeking to fix responsibility and ascertain whether anyone else was involved. Investigators have learnt that Gupta allegedly supplied businessman Nikhil’s mobile tower location to Raghav , who is suspected to be the mastermind behind the murder. Gupta allegedly accessed Nikhil’s mobile tower location multiple times and passed the information to Raghav. Police suspect the location data was used to track Nikhil and plan his killing. Only authorised investigating officers in the Detective Department — including those attached to the Cyber Crime Branch or assigned to specific cases — and specialised technical units such as the Kolkata Police’s Special Task Force can officially seek and access mobile tower location data from telecom service providers, and only after obtaining the requisite legal permissions.