Police on Wednesday arrested close aide of senior BJP leader Mukul Roy for taking bribe.
Baban Ghosh, a former TMC Mazdoor Sangh president, was arrested from his south Kolkata residence for conning lakhs of rupees from the complainant Santu Mandal in the name of getting him a place in the Railway Board, sources said.
Police acting on an FIR lodged in 2015 by one Santu Mandal alleging Ghosh had extracted about Rs 70 lakh in tranches arrested Ghosh who enjoys considerable influence in the Tollygunge film city and had recently played an important role in getting a galaxy of Bangla cine personalities to join the saffron outfit. The BJP promptly refuted charges saying it was all being done at the behest of the ruling TMC to malign the party and victimise people who were joining the party.
The complainant is known to have also named Roy and another person in the FIR lodged at Sarsuna Police Station in south-west Kolkata.
According to Mandal, the accused had lured him into giving lakhs of rupees with a promise of making him a Railway Board member. “I met Baban Ghosh at Nizam Palace in Kolkata where I was told I will be made Railway Board member. Accordingly I was taken to Delhi several times,” Mandal said, adding he even visited Parliament and Railway Ministry where I was introduced to some people.”
Among them was a “stated personal assistant of then Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu,” he said. “I was told there that I will have to spend some money in order to become a Board member. To win my trust I was also given some papers. Believing in them I paid them several lakh of rupees some even through cheque.”
But subsequently “when they started avoiding me I got suspicious and went to the Railway Division office at Koilaghata in Kolkata where I was told that the papers delivered to me were fake. Then I filed an FIR,” he said.
On why the police were acting so late he said “this is for the police to answer.” Roy presently a senior TMC leader had reportedly approached the Calcutta High Court for an anticipatory bail, sources said.
Meanwhile, reacting to the Wednesday’s development Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said “this is nothing but a part of the Trinamool Congress’ dirty politics. They have slapped 28,000 cases against out members and have jailed many of them. This is another such case. We will fight it politically.”