CPM clears WB minister of criminal links

The CPI(M) today gave a clean chit to West Bengal Minister for Sports and Transport Subhas Chakraborty, saying he was in no way connected with Dilip Bandopadhyay alias Haathkata Dilip, a notorious criminal with 15 charges including eight murders against him, even as Finance Minister Dr Ashim Kumar Dasgupta today summoned North 24-Parganas SP Praveen Kumar.

Though the meeting raised eyebrows in the Secretariat, when asked, SP Kumar said he had come to meet West Bengal DGP Shyamal Dutta (who, sources said, wasn’t there) and he finished it with Chief Secretary Ashok Gupta and Home Secretary Amit Kiran Deb.

Incidentally, Dasgupta’s constituency in Kharda also falls within North 24-Paraganas district and this also happens to be the district from where the police had lifted the husband of Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, CPI(M) MP and Dilip, less than three months ago.

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Sources said Dasgupta, who consulted CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharya before calling the SP, had sought a report on the situation there.

CPI(M) state committee secretary Anil Biswas said the party had conducted extensive investigation on links of the criminal with Chakraborty and ‘‘found the allegations deliberate and baseless.