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Retired IPS officer Bharati Ghosh, declared an absconder by CID in a cheating and extortion case lodged in West Midnapore, on Wednesday accused the TMC government of initiating a “witch hunt” against her because she “refused to do its bidding’’, which included ensuring that BJP’s vote share in Midnapore-Jhargram area does not increase.
Speaking out for the first time since charges were framed against her, Ghosh told The Indian Express from an undisclosed location that she will be joining a political party by the 2019 elections, and insisted that she was not in hiding. Her husband, MAV Rao, was arrested on Tuesday by CID in the same case.
“I will definitely join a political party soon. My husband is an innocent man. I am an example of political vendetta. When I followed their (the TMC’s) instructions, I was hailed an honest officer. The moment I started putting my foot down on things I thought were inappropriate, they initiated criminal cases against me. Whether I am joining BJP or Congress isn’t important, but I am determined to give them (TMC) a befitting reply,’’ said Ghosh in a telephonic interview.
In 2011, after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee came to power in the state, Ghosh was posted as West Midnapore’s superintendent of police with additional charge of Jhargram. Considered instrumental in curbing Maoist activity in the area with the killing of Maoist leader Koteswar Rao and surrender of several prominent Maoists, she was awarded a service medal on August 15, 2014. However, she was transferred out of the area first during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, reinstated, and then again before the 2016 state Assembly polls by the Election Commission after they received complaints against her from opposition parties.
In November last year, former TMC vice-president Mukul Roy left the party to join BJP. “I am not close to Mukul Roy. It was their (TMC’s) insecurity that they held me responsible for increasing votes of another party. Since I didn’t follow the party line, the state has made me an example for other police officers,” she alleged.
After the Sabang Assembly bypoll in December 2017, Ghosh was transferred to a less significant posting in Barrackpore as third battalion commandant. “I remember during the Sabang bypolls, I was asked by the party supremo to ensure a reduction in BJP votes. But I didn’t do anything about it. Inevitably, the BJP vote share increased. The party asked me for an explanation. Then I got transferred,” claimed Ghosh. While TMC registered a victory with a margin of over 64,000 votes, BJP’s vote share had gone up from 2.6 per cent in 2016 to 18 per cent in 2017.
On January 30, 2018, the former IPS officer submitted a written complaint to the MHA and expressed her desire to resign. “The ministry acknowledged my complaint and accepted it. The news however leaked and the state police initiated a series of criminal cases against me”, she said.
The extortion case lodged against Ghosh, her husband and the other police officers was based on a complaint filed on February 1, 2018, by Midnapore resident Chandan Majhi. Majhi alleged that police officers had taken 375 gm gold from him with the promise of high returns, but never paid him back, at Ghosh’s behest. Subsequently, the Ghatal court ordered an inquiry that led to the arrest of seven persons including police officers. Ghosh’s husband was picked up from near the Calcutta High Court Tuesday after his anticipatory bail plea was cancelled.
The charges against the accused include IPC sections 384 (extortion), 385 (putting person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion), 389 (putting person in fear of accusation of offence, in order to commit extortion), 119 (public servant concealing design to commit offence which it is his duty to prevent), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) as well as under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
“The man who lodged a case against me is a chowmein seller from Daspur. When the court asked him where he got the gold, he said he bought it from a jeweller in Mumbai. Majhi generated a false voucher which was actually sent on Whatsapp on February 4, 2018, by a Daspur resident who has a jewellery business in Mumbai. Majhi took a printout of the receipt, filled it and it was produced in court. In fact, even the Mumbai Police can confirm that the voucher is false,” Ghosh claimed, adding, “Majhi has been given 24X7 police protection not because his life is at risk, but because they want to ensure that no one has access to him. I wasn’t even named in the FIR. After they (CID) raided my house, they realized their mistake. They found another man, Kokhon, to lodge an extortion complaint against me. Khokon is a TMC worker.’’
The accused also claimed that the date written on the receipt of the gold transaction was November 12, three days after demonetisation. “The receipt shows that the complainant Chandan Majhi bought gold three days after demonetisation using banned notes. Why wasn’t he arrested? The complaint was filed in Daspur police station at 9.25 pm and by 11 pm, 75 CID personnel raided my house in Naktala, 125 km from Daspur. When did the CID take charge of the case? They were clearly prepared beforehand,” she alleged.
During raids at Ghosh’s residence, CID claimed to have recovered 50 original land sale deeds amounting to Rs 300 crore, tablets, pen drives, hard disks, gold jewellery and 57 sealed bottles of imported whiskey. They also seized 1.1 kg gold jewellery from Ghosh’s bank locker, Rs 2 crore in cash from a flat in Bansdroni owned by Ghosh’s “close acquaintance” and Rs 2.4 crore from a flat in Madurdaha, South Kolkata. The ownership of the Madurdaha flat is yet to be verified. “Whatever the CID has claimed to have seized has been planted by them,” the former SP alleged.
Asked why she was not disclosing her location, Ghosh said, “I am not hiding. I am outside the state and will not enter it till I get anticipatory bail.”
Responding to Ghosh’s claims, DIG (CID) Nishat Parvez said, “We have already submitted our chargesheet regarding the case in court. I don’t want to comment any further.”
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