NEW DELHI: Former IPS officer Bharati Ghosh Friday told the Supreme Court that the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal was trying to prevent her from entering the state as she is contesting Lok Sabha polls on BJP's ticket from West Midnapore's Ghatal constituency.
Ghosh, once considered close to Banerjee, was earlier granted protection from arrest by the apex court in cases registered against her in the state.
Her counsel opposed before a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and K M Joseph the application moved by the West Bengal government seeking a direction to restrain her from entering the state.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for West Bengal, claimed that Ghosh, against whom four cases have been lodged, has been declared as a proclaimed offender by the trial court and it is a "serious matter". Senior advocate N K Kaul, appearing for Ghosh, countered Sibal's submissions and said the former IPS officer has not been declared a proclaimed offender.
"She (Ghosh) is a candidate for Lok Sabha elections and that is why they (state) are saying so. The prayer in their application is -- do not allow her to enter West Bengal. The purpose is to stop her from entering West Bengal for election as she is a Lok Sabha candidate," Kaul said.
However, Sibal told the bench, "She has joined the other party just to save herself". The bench said it would hear the matter on April 15. During the brief hearing, Sibal told the court that after getting bail from a court, one of the co-accused in the case has been transferred to a post where he can access the call detail records (CDRs).
"He (co-accused) directed the service providers to give all the CDRs to him, including the call details of the investigating officer (who is probing the case)," Sibal said.
On February 19, the apex court had granted protection from arrest in all cases registered against Ghosh and said no coercive action be taken against her. Ghosh had moved the apex court seeking protection from arrest saying the West Bengal government has lodged various FIRs against her.
She said that the apex court had already granted her protection from arrest in seven cases but the state has registered three more FIRs against her.
The West Bengal government had opposed her plea and said there are clear evidences against her and also submitted a transcript of a purported conversation between Ghosh and her personal security officer.
The apex court had on October 1 last year granted her protection from arrest in a case of alleged extortion and illegal exchange of banned notes for gold.
Counsel appearing for Ghosh earlier told the court that seven FIRs were lodged against her in an incident which dates back to 2016 in which allegedly gold was taken for currency.
He said that police has been acting against her at different places and they should be restrained from taking any coercive action.
However, the state had claimed that Ghosh and her personal security officer were allegedly involved in the gold extortion case and other cases and they both acted together.
On February 4, Ghosh had joined the BJP in the presence of Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and senior party leader Kailash Vijayvargiya alleging that "thugocracy" has replaced democracy in West Bengal.
Ghosh, who was the West Midnapore Superintendent of Police for more than six years, was transferred as commandant of the third battalion of the state armed police on December 26, 2017.
She later resigned from service. Ghosh was transferred twice, once by the Election Commission before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and the second time by the state itself before the 2016 Assembly elections.
She was, however, reinstated as West Midnapore SP as soon as the elections got over on both occasions.
An arrest warrant was issued against Ghosh in February 2018 in connection with an extortion case registered at Daspur police station in West Midnapore district, following her resignation.