Kolkata: A quest to find his missing son turned into a nightmare and financial deceit for a senior citizen, who was reportedly duped of his life savings of over Rs 29 lakh by a private detective, who apparently offered to rescue the youth.The 64-year-old retired WBCS officer, who is a resident of Burdwan, lodged a complaint at the Gariahat PS on Aug 8, seeking the recovery of his money and action against the accused, Samrat Bhowmick. He recently met Suvendu Adhikari at Janatar Durbar, following which the chief minister ordered a CID investigation into the missing son.According to the complaint, the 29-year-old youth disappeared from Burdwan town on Jan 21, 2024. As Burdwan cops failed to make headway, the father sought assistance of the private detective firm on Rashbehari Avenue. The agency drafted an agreement of Rs 5 lakh to trace the youth and he initially paid Rs 4.5 lakh.The firm assigned the investigation to Bhowmick, a Dhakuria resident. Between March and April 2025, Bhowmick claimed to have located critical leads, pointing to the youth’s possible whereabouts near the Purulia-Jharkhand border. Exploiting the father’s distress, Bhowmick repeatedly demanded extra funds to “pay secret informants and conducting direct field rescue operations”. The father paid him Rs 25,34,746 via digital payments and cash in Dec 2025. When the father realised he was being duped, he confronted Bhowmick on Dec 20, 2025, and demanded a refund. Bhowmick returned merely Rs 1 lakh before severing communications and threatening him. The father told police the agency director refunded the initial Rs 4.5 lakh fee due to non-performance, but Bhowmick did not.The Gariahat PS and CID have launched a probe. “We have served a notice on the accused. The financial deals are also being probed,” said an investigating officer.
