Kolkata: A conman brazenly walked out with furniture from Vivekananda’s ancestral house on Thursday morning. An FIR was registered at the Girish Park Police Station, based on a complaint lodged by the centre’s secretary, Swami Jnanalokananda (65), who gave details on how a smooth-talking impostor entered the heritage premises of Swami Vivekananda’s Ancestral House and Cultural Centre on Simla Street and made away with six chairs and two pedestal fans. . It is one of the prominent branches of Ramakrishna Mission.According to the complaint, it was just after Jnanalokananda had arrived at his office around 8.30 am that the receptionist, Swapan Das, told a young man was waiting for him. The visitor, claiming to represent a local MLA, claimed he needed to hang banners around the premises for Rathayatra. Jnanalokananda asked to see the banners but the youth claimed he did not have them on him. The youth left after taking Das’s mobile number from the security guards, saying he would send the banner’s photograph on WhatsApp.The true nature of the youth and his visit emerged about an hour later, when the secretary received a call from an unknown number around 9.48 am. “The caller identified himself as Rambilash, a van puller, and asked me how many chairs he should take away. On asking more, I learnt from him and the receptionist that someone had already taken six chairs away from the ashrama. When I asked Das why the chairs were allowed to be taken away, he said he assumed it was authorized by someone from the ashrama,” Jnanalokananda wrote in his complaint. “I then asked the van puller not to leave the premises and called police. Two cops arrived. The CCTV footage confirmed that the young man, who met me earlier in the morning, took the chairs away. On further examination of the CCTV footage, we were alarmed to discover that the same person opened the bolt of the main door of the prayer hall from inside and removed two stand fans. He first placed the fans inside the fencing of the ashrama (Ramakrishna Mancha Gate) and then, with the assistance of another man loitering along Simla Street, transferred them across the fencing.” Jnanalokananda said the incident concerned the safety of their ashram. “We are deeply concerned about the safety and sanctity of our institution, which has been violated in such a manner,” wrote Jnanalokananda.Police have launched a hunt for the youth.
