KOLKATA: A woman BJP leader who is at the centre of a child trafficking racket in West Bengal was caught last night near the international border with Nepal allegedly while trying to flee the country.
Juhee Choudhury was nabbed by the West Bengal Crime Investigation Department (CID) in the Batasi area near the Panitanki-Kakarvitta international border in Darjeeling district Bengal at around 11 pm Tuesday night. She had been on the run for 10 days since the scam broke in West Bengal.
Juhee Choudhury is the West Bengal BJP Mahila Morcha general secretary. She is accused of collaborating with Chandana Chakraborty the owner of adoption centres and women’s rescue homes in Jalpaiguri in West Bengal. Choudhury allegedly lobbied for Chandana Chakrabory in power cirlces in North Block in New Delhi.
Juhee Choudhury has been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 370 (trafficking and exploitation), 420 (cheating) and 468 (forgery). The BJP women’s wing leader was scheduled to be produced in the Jalpaiguri district court Wednesday where police are likely to seek her custody to interrogate her.
West Bengal CID sources said Juhee Choudhury had hidden in a relative's residence in Batasi village near the international border. A CID detective said the agency was tipped off that she was attempting to flee to Nepal. He said Juhee Choudhury’s cellphone switched off her cell phone for much of the time she was on the lam but detectives managed to track her location from a few calls she made on Tuesday morning.
The investigating agency are looking for links between Juhee Choudhury and two major BJP figures from West Bengal, Rajya Sabha MP Roopa Ganguly, a former actress, and the BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya. Roopa Ganguly is the president of the BJP’s women’s wing in West Bengal, the Mahila Morcha. Juhee Choudhury is the general secretary.
Prime accused Chandana Chakraborty is said to have revealed to CID detectives that Juhee Chowdhury lobbied with Roopa Ganguly and Kailash Vijayvargiya to influence Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) to renew the licences of Chakraborthy’s shelter homes and arrange central government funding for them.