Kolkata: Two cops suspended for trying to bribe Rahul Sinha in ‘cow smuggling’ case

Sinha, contesting the Assembly poll from Jorasanko seat in the metropolis, said, “Yesterday, during the election campaign at Kharagpur which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, I had heavily criticised the TMC government because of the Narada incident and three hours after that, I believe this conspiracy was hatched.”

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Elaborating on the incident, Sinha said, “One Subhasish Roy Chowdhury, who was later identified as Assistant Sub-Inspector of the Special Branch, came to my residence yesterday to meet me but as I was unavailable, my PA gave him an appointment for today at 11.30 am at the party headquarters.”

On Monday, Chowdhury came to Sinha’s office accompanied by another man, who was later identified as Aminul Rahman, a constable of the Special Branch, Sinha said. “Chowdhury said Rahman was an unemployed youth and wanted some help in smuggling cows across the Bangladesh border. He offered to reward me handsomely if I helped. I immediately held him by the collar and slapped him across his face. Then I handed them over to the police,” Sinha said. He added that Officer-in-charge of Jorasanko police station, Amit Rakshit had requested him not to file any official complaint against the duo.

Rakshit, however, said a complaint has been lodged against the two police officers. “I was the one who had signed the receipt copy of the complaint. The complaint was not clear enough to slap specific charges on the offenders. Both have been suspended pending enquiry under DC Central Division, Akhilesh Chaturvedi,” he said.

He added that since this was a non-cognisable offence, the accused have not been arrested but if found guilty they may lose their jobs. Joint CP, Headquarters, Kolkata Police, Supratim Sarkar said, “The duo has done this for their own benefit and Kolkata Police has no link in the matter.” It was also found out that the bags which the duo was carrying did not contain any hidden camera, recording device or cash.

Sinha, however, maintained that it was the handiwork of Mamata Banerjee to tarnish the BJP’s image ahead of Assembly election. “She wanted them to do a similar sting for which her senior leaders had fallen. We demand a CBI inquiry into the matter, because the state police here would never carry out a fair investigation in a case where the CM is an accused,” the BJP leader said.

Refuting the allegations, TMC secretary-general Partha Chatterjee said in a sarcastic vein, “Every good thing is done by them and whatever is wrong is done by TMC. The people in the state know that whatever good thing is done is done by Mamata Banerjee”.