Earlier in the day, another of his associate Nirmal Kumar Biswas was arrested.

Das (35), a dismissed constable, was absconding ever since the scam was exposed in April. His arrest was made

possible following Biswas’s arrest.

“Biswas (42) was arrested at the crossing of Central Avenue and Bowbazar around 4.30 pm. He used a rent-a-car business as a front to cover his role in the recruitment racket. He was largely responsible for sourcing candidates, liaisoning and related organisational matters,” said Jawed Shamim, Deputy Commissioner (Detective Department).

He added: “Two hours later, we picked up Das from Biswas’ residence at 154, Salt Lake Sector I. He had been hiding there for the last four days. Biswas happens to be

related to Das.”

Das and Pradeep Bose, alias Bappa, were the masterminds in the recruitment racket which was exposed last month following the arrest of a constable from the Police Training School. Eleven people have been arrested since then, among whom is Nandakumar Pal, an ASI-deputed nodal officer in the recruitment process.

Both Das and Bappa are from Kanhaipur in Hooghly district, and were constables dismissed from service. Senior police sources said Das, recruited in 1999, was involved in a rape case several years ago and had been dismissed from service on February 1.

Shamim added that they were on the lookout for Santosh Jadhav, a constable with the state Criminal Investigation Department’s Women’s Cell and thought to be the racket’s pointsman in the West Bengal police.

“Bappa, as per our investigation, appears to be a much more formidable racketeer than Das. He is a much bigger player and is more organised. The racket was so lucrative that they would source candidates for recruitment and even return money to those they couldn’t push through. They would charge Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh per candidate.”