Sanjay Kedia, Siddhartha Kole, Mihir Jha, Gun jan Ghosh, Ranvijay Pathak. There is nothing in common among them except that they are educated criminals. All of them have passed out from prestigious educational institutions. A trend increasingly visible in Kolkata and many districts of West Bengal relates to highly-educated persons, even professionals like doctors, engineers and chartered accountants (CAs) taking to crimes to make quick money.
Although these criminals usually indulge in cheating, fraud and embezzlement, serious crimes like kidnapping-for-ransom and murder are also not beyond them.
Sanjay, an engineer from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, instead of taking up a lucrative job in India or abroad, chose to engage himself in drugtrafficking through the Internet. Siddhartha, a Calcutta Boys' School and Goenka College alumnus and one of the lucky few who managed to become a chartered accountant, decided to give up his highly-paid job in Bangalore only to become a high-profile dacoit.
City-based psychiatrists find "moral degradation" of the society to be the main reason behind this trend.
"The first thing that plays effec tive role on the mind of an educated person is that no one will suspect that he has committed a crime. Other factors include personality disorders, which make criminals out of high ly qualified professionals," Dr Mallick said.
