The Kolkata Police on Saturday rained blows on a bevy of unarmed journalists waiting to get a byte from the Saradha scam accused Kunal Ghosh while being ferried from Bangur Institute of Neurology, where he was taken for an EEG test, to the SSKM Hospital, where he is being treated for attempted suicide by consuming sleeping pills in the small hours of Friday.
The incident took place a day after the same police force meekly surrendered before a band of marauding Trinamool goons, led by a local Trinamool leader attacking, ransacking and beating up cops at the Alipore Police Station and yet going scot-free.The scribes on Saturday were heckled, collared, pushed and lathi-charged by the men in khaki as they tried to get close to Ghosh for his statement, if any. The only statement that could be heard in the melee was, “I want all those named in the case arrested.”
Even the ailing Trinamool MP, who had a Ryles Tube thrust inside his nose, was not spared as the overenthusiastic cops pulled, shoved and literally manhandled him before dragging him inside the BIN Hospital by covering his mouth with a police cap.All this happened in the presence of the DCP South, Murlidhar, who, however, said “I will look into it and take action if anything of that sort happened.”
The insensitivity of the media-wary police was palpable as it forced a visibly weak Ghosh, also a prime accused and witness in the multi-crore fraud case, to languish inside the ambulance with all its windows closed for more than half-an-hour.At one point, the profusely sweating patient was seen frantically requesting the police to open the closed door and ferry him inside the hospital as it was hot inside.
“The police under Mamata Banerjee have become a ruthless entity,” said Bikash Bhattacharya, former Kolkata Mayor and a senior counsel who successfully fought the Saradha case in Supreme Court for a CBI probe in the chit fund scam.“It seems that even Hitler would feel ashamed at what the Mamata Banerjee Government is doing,” he said. Congress’ Abdul Mannan said: “The way the Government is handling Kunal Ghosh anything can happen to him anytime.”
Meanwhile, the police on Saturday conducted a thorough search of the cells of Saradha boss Sudipto Sen and his deputy Debjani Mukherjee, who are lodged in Alipore Central Jail.