Additional Chief Secretary Sajal Chakrabarty on Thursday broke his silence over allegations of being shielded by the administration in the Ranchi lake incident which had led to the death of five people that were onboard the boat that capsized soon after entering the lake. The Additional Chief Secretary hit back with counter allegations and pointed towards an attempt to pressurize him in the case.
The Additional Chief Secretary while talking to media persons refuted the allegations and suggested that he is being targeted by vested interests. “There is conspiracy to shift the responsibility of the incident on me,” said Chakrabarty adding “there was driver on the boat who was driving it.”
Interestingly, Chakrabarty also indicated that he is being subjected to pressure by the relative of a victim who also happens to be a relative of the boating club operator. Chakrabarty claimed that he has been approached by several people to “settle” the case allegedly by giving away compensation to the kin of the victim. “They say that my father has left a lot of money for me but I will not give even a single paisa to them,” he added.
However, the Additional Chief Secretary stopped short of calling the “settlement” offer blackmail and has not filed FIR against the vested interest he was pointing at. “I did not file FIR because money has not been demanded directly,” maintained Chakrabarty. Earlier, Chakrabarty disapproved of the prevalent notion that he was in driver’s seat and that the boat was crowded beyond its capacity. He also indicated towards poor safety measures at the boating club besides an inattentive owner of the club for the fiasco. The Additional Chief Secretary asserted that he went there only as a guest. Moreover, there were paddle boats in the lake even before the motor boat entered the water.
“No one in the paddle boat was wearing life jacket. I instructed the operator to not allow anyone enter the water without life jacket,” pointed out Chakrabarty. Incidentally, the boating club situated at Ranchi lake became a subject of people’s ire when a boat allegedly carrying ten to 15 people entered the water finally taking a nose dive in the water leaving five persons dead and putting Chakrabarty under the scanner for ignoring security concerns.
Flashing a photograph published in a news paper Chakrabarty said, “It is evident from the photograph that there are around five people in the boat.”