Firhad Hakim's OSD Kalicharan arrested in Taratala warehouse collapse case

In a high-profile escalation following the Taratala structural disaster, the Kolkata Police on Thursday arrested Kalicharan Banerjee, a highly influential administrative figure within the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). Banerjee currently functions as the Controlling Officer of the crucial Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) and the Bidhayak Elaka Unnayan Prakalpa (BEUP) Cell. Widely recognized in state political circles simply as "Kali," he previously served as the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to former KMC Mayor Firhad Hakim during the exact period when the controversial Taratala warehouse building plan received official municipal sanctions.

The sudden arrest was executed hours after West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari launched a scathing offensive on the floor of the state Legislative Assembly. Adhikari openly named Kalicharan Banerjee, accusing him of orchestrating deep-rooted institutional corruption and effectively hijacking the Kolkata Municipal Corporation's administrative framework. The Chief Minister claimed that the former mayoral administration had delegated unprecedented, disproportionate operational executive powers to Banerjee, allowing him to bypass standard civic protocols and function as a dominant parallel authority inside the civic body.

Addressing the assembly, Chief Minister Adhikari further alleged that no major commercial architectural layout or construction plan could clear the KMC threshold without Banerjee's explicit clearance and financial mediation. Adhikari went on to claim that "Kali" was actively managing the construction of the Trinamool Bhavan corporate building near the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass. "If Kali is caught, all information will come out," Adhikari declared, revealing that a formal First Information Report (FIR) had already been registered to initiate strict punitive legal actions against the officer.