KOLKATA: A day after West Bengal Crime Investigation Department (CID) revealed that preparations were abuzz to summon a BJP MP for interrogation to probe the lawmaker’s alleged involvement in Jalpaiguri child trafficking racket, the agency on Saturday claimed that a top MP and an influential political leader from Delhi may also be involved in the racket.
Sleuths of the agency revealed that several top political contacts were found from the cell phone of former West Bengal BJP Mahila Morcha general secretary Juhee Choudhury, which was seized after she was nabbed while trying to flee to Nepal.
“Contacts of an MP and an influential political leader from Delhi were found in Juhee’s contact list. Frequent calls have been made to these two numbers. We suspect that the two may have helped Juhee get through to the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) officials in North Block. Besides, a CARA official is also under scanner who may have helped Juhee get clearances for Chandana’s shelter homes. Hence, we may soon take a decision whether to send summons to the two political leaders and the CARA official or send our sleuths to Delhi to interrogate them,” a CID official told New Indian Express.
Meanwhile, CID made its first arrests of two government officials in the trafficking racket on Friday night around 9.30 PM, taking the total number of arrests in the case to five. Darjeeling District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) Mrinal Ghosh and Child Protection Committee member and general physician of prime accused Chandana Chakraborty’s shelter homes, Dr Debashish Chanda were arrested after marathon interrogation to probe their alleged involvement in the racket. Mrinal’s wife and Jalpaiguri District Child Protection Officer Sashmita Ghosh was also interrogated but not arrested. She has already been suspended from duty and served show cause notice by Jalpaiguri District Magistrate Rachna Bhagat. Jalpaiguri district court granted 14-day custody of the two arrested officials to CID on Saturday.
On the other hand, sources revealed that the Ministry of Women and Child Development has begun an independent probe into the Jalpaiguri child trafficking racket. The probe began after orders from Women and Child Development minister Maneka Gandhi, whose name was embroiled in the case. Chandana had claimed that Juhee had fixed an appointment to meet the cabinet minister to seek clearances for her shelter homes in north Bengal.