New Delhi: Former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and now Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member, Bharati Ghosh has alleged that the West Bengal Police colluded with charge-sheeted criminals to lodge FIRs against her and falsely implicate her in different cases. In an affidavit filed with the Supreme Court, which this newspaper has accessed, Ghosh has alleged that she was implicated in several false cases because she raised her voice against the state administration. She has also alleged in her affidavit that every complaint against her was “invited” from charge-sheeted criminals, history-sheeters and leaders of West Bengal’s ruling party, the Trinamool Congress.
“Documents received from very reliable source establishes role of handpicked police officers in the conspiracy against the petitioner. These police officers contacted charge-sheeted accused persons, history-sheeters and party leaders and invited complaints from them. Further, they arranged fake and fabricated documents which was (sic) used in the case and contacted local criminals before the registration of the cases and later, brought them in as key witnesses against the petitioner. CID West Bengal was involved in this conspiracy and the raiding officers of CID were also part of the conspiracy,” she alleged in her affidavit.
The affidavit alleged that one Chandan Majhi, the first complainant against her, was a charge-sheeted rape accused, and was invited by the state administration to lodge a complaint against Ghosh. In the affidavit, she further alleged that a handpicked police officer of Paschim Midnapore district, Joyanta Chakraborty exchanged 31 calls with Chandan Maji, prior to the initiation of the court complaint against Ghosh by him.
“It is pertinent to note that the documents, received by the petitioner indicates that such calls and interactions started from 29.01.2018 and continued till 02.02.2018 and the court complaint was lodged on 01.02.2018 u/s 156 (3) CrPC. On 01.02.2018, that is, the day when the court complaint was lodged, police officer Joyanto Chakraborty called Chandan Maji in the morning and talked with him. On that day, a total of eleven calls were exchanged between them,” the affidavit alleged.
The complaint against Ghosh by Chandan Majhi, as per the affidavit, was filed based on allegedly a false issue voucher given by P.S. Jewelers in Mumbai. “The said Issue Voucher showed a purchase of 375 grams of gold on 12.11.2016 and was annexed with court complaint of Chandan Maji as proof of his possession of the gold which he allegedly sold. However, an RTI reply from the Mumbai Police established that the said Issue Voucher was fabricated and no gold was sold by the said P.S. Jewelers of Mumbai to Chandan Maji in 2016, therefore the entire foundation of his (Majhi’s) complaint to the court was based on false and fabricated Issue Voucher,” Ghosh alleged in her affidavit.
The former IPS officer also alleged that the owners of P.S. Jewellers in Mumbai were the cousins of an officer in West Bengal Police and they allegedly helped Maji to get the “false issue voucher”. Ghosh, in her affidavit to the Supreme Court, also attached alleged call details of the police officers and the owners of the said jewellers in Mumbai. She also alleged that police officers personally escorted Maji to the court to register a complaint against her, a claim which she tried to establish by attaching to the affidavit alleged location details of the police officers and Maji.
“Three senior police officers of the district of Paschim Midnapore, namely Alok Rajoria, the Superintendent of Police, Y Raghuvamsi, the Additional Superintendent of Police Kharagpur and Vivek Verma, SDPO Khargapur sent the handpicked police officer Biswaranjan Bannerjee to the court of ACJM Ghatal and monitored and ensured successful initiation of the false court complaint by Chandan Maji… The court complaint of Chandan Maji was monitored right from its initiation at Ghatal court to its culmination with the registration of the FIR at 9.25 PM at Daspur Police Station,” the affidavit stated.
Ghosh alleged in her affidavit that a local Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader, Kokhan Khan filed a false complaint against her at the Daspur Police Station allegedly at the behest of a senior TMC leader, Kaushik Kulavi. She further provided to the court alleged call data records of the conversation between the two leaders.
“Kaushik Kulavi, the AITC leader (who is instructed to start false case by heavyweight leader) calls Kokhan Khan the complainant twice on 06.02.2018 after which Kokhan Khan goes to the Daspur PS and lodges the complaint. The case was registered immediately although the complaint was more than 400 days old, no document whatsoever was submitted to show his ownership and possession of the 200 grams of gold allegedly sold and no reason for the long delay was given,” she alleged in her affidavit.
She also raised questions through her affidavit about some police officers from West Midnapore being allegedly in touch with a “charge sheeted international cow smuggler”, who lives at Swarupnagar North 24 Parganas.
“Why would an Officer-in- charge of a particular police station of West Midnapore start sudden interaction with a charge sheeted international cow smuggler who lives at Swarupnagar North 24 Parganas which is almost 200 km away? Why would the call start on 3 February 2018? It is because the State administration in collusion with the ruling party decided to tag the petitioner in a series of criminal cases. Thirty three (33) interactions of Sub Inspector Biswaranjan Bannerjee with complainant Eunus Ali Mondal happened on 03.02.2018 to 06.02.2018 (four days) before the filing of court complaint on 07.02.2018 and registration of the case on 08.02.2018,” she alleged in her affidavit.
Ghosh moved the Supreme Court seeking protection from any coercive action by the West Bengal Police in several corruption cases registered against her. Ghosh claimed that the police had registered seven FIRs against her. The Apex Court had on 1 October last year granted her protection from arrest in a case of alleged extortion and illegal exchange of banned notes for gold. A bench of Justices A.K. Sikri and S. Abdul Nazeer is likely to hear her application on 19 February.
Ghosh, who was once considered to be close to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, recently joined the BJP at the party headquarters in Delhi. She is under the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) investigation for extortion and was posted as SP of West Midnapore with additional charge of Jhargram. She was awarded a service medal in 2014 for her contribution to curbing Maoist activity in the area.
Considering her then proximity to Banerjee, the Election Commission had transferred Ghosh out of the area first during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, and then again before the 2016 state Assembly elections, after receiving complaints against her from Opposition parties. She was subsequently reinstated after the elections.
She was transferred as commandant of the third battalion of the state armed police on 26 December 2017. She resigned from the service two days later. Following her resignation, an arrest warrant was issued by the West Bengal Police against her in February last year in connection with the extortion case registered at Daspur police station in West Midnapore district.