Acting on a tip off from their Kolkata counterparts, Ranchi police have arrested a 40-year-old man, who provided security volunteers for the ongoing Jharkhand International Film Festival Awards (JIFFA), on charges of running an illegal business of fake passports and visas, police said on Friday.
A team from the Kotwali Police Station arrested Arif Bhatt from his residence in Gadikhana locality here on Thursday.
Soon after learning about the development, JIFFA organizers ousted Bhatt and claimed that the security volunteers provided by him were also sacked with immediate effect.
“He (Bhatt) has no connection with JIFFA anymore. We have even sacked the volunteers he provided to us,” said Pankaj Soni, Vice President, JIFFA.
Officer In-charge of Kotwali Police Station, Sri Ram Mandal said that a six-member team from Baguiati Police Station in Kolkata arrived in Ranchi on Friday evening to interrogate Bhatt.
He added that Bhatt ran his office in Salt Lake locality of Kolkata and had business partners from Bangladesh and Nepal.
The police team from Kolkata, however, did not take Bhatt to Kolkata on Friday.
“He (Bhatt) has said that he was more comfortable in undergoing the process of interrogation in Hindi. The team from Kolkata may take him to their city tomorrow (Saturday),” Mandal said.