Kolkata police have launched an investigation into a case of cheating at least eight lakh rupees (ten and a half thousand dollars) with the Bangladesh sub-embassy in Kolkata in the name of Indian vocalist Shreya Ghoshal. News of Hindustan Times.

It is alleged that a Mumbai-based company had taken the money in advance from the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata for organizing a concert of Shreya Ghoshal in Bangladesh. But later it was found out that the company has no contact with the artist, and the company is also completely fake.

The Bangladesh Embassy had signed an agreement with a company called ‘Hitmakers Productions Pvt Ltd’ in Mumbai in January to organize the concert. Chirantan Bandyopadhyay, a Kolkata-based artist, contacted the company at the embassy.

According to sub-embassy sources, they sent Rs 8 lakh to the account of a person named Krishna Sharma of Hitmakers for advance for the concert. After that Shreya Ghoshal was thanked for this via email and a WhatsApp number – they were relieved – there was no doubt about it then. The fake ‘Shreya Ghoshal’ even requested from that email account to book two rooms in a good five star hotel in Dhaka during the event!

But even though the day of the proposed event was approaching, the Deputy High Commission of Kolkata did not get any response from the hitmakers. Even email or WhatsApp accounts can be silent and they can finally understand – the whole thing has been cheated. Subsequently, the sub-embassy lodged a complaint with the Fraud Branch of Calcutta Police.

When the case came up for hearing in the Calcutta High Court recently, Justice Rajshekhar Mantha directed the Kolkata Police Intelligence Division to investigate it. They then also interrogated one of the accused, Chirantan Banerjee, who said that he himself was a victim of cheating