Police complaint against Amit Malviya in Kolkata; BJP IT Chief accuses Mamata Banerjee of shielding criminals, TMC releases pictures of him and PM Modi along with BHU gangrape accused

Police complaint lodged against Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) IT Cell Chief Amit Malviya on Sunday in Kolkata by Trinamool Congress minister Chandrima Bhattacharya over a social media post where Malviya has accused Mamata Banerjee of “shielding criminals”. Malviya, who is also in-charge of Bengal, had linked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with absconding Shahjahan Sheikh, the TMC leader whose house Enforcement Directorate teams had gone to raid but came under attack on Friday. Sheikh is absconding and a look out notice has been issued against him.

Drawing parallels with jailed TMC leader and former Birbhum District President Anubrata Mondal who is accused in cattle smuggling case, Malviya shared a picture of him seated inside the car of Mamata Banerjee and claimed “she has a track record of shielding criminals”. That picture was of March 2022 when the chief minister had gone to visit the families of Bogtui massacre in Birbhum district and Mondal had travelled along with her. While Mondal is behind bars now but he wasn’t arrested in connection with Bogtui massacre in which 11 people were charred to death following the killing of a local TMC leader. Malviya, however in his post on Friday had referred to Mondal, as an accused in the Bogtui case and not as an accused who is arrested in connection with alleged cattle smuggling case.

“West Bengal Governor has ordered WB DGP to immediately arrest Sheikh Shahjahan and investigate his links with terror organisations. But Shahjahan, who claimed to be don of Sandeshkhali, is absconding. This wouldn’t have been possible without the patronage of Mamata Banerjee, who is also the Home Minister of West Bengal” wrote Malviya.

He further added that Mamata Banerjee had the track record of shielding criminals. “Soon after the Bogtui massacre, Mamata Banerjee drove around with accused Anubroto Mondal in her official car. There is no doubt that Sheikh Shahjahan, wherever he is, is under her protection.”, he wrote.

TMC has called the allegations false but has also termed the aspersions cast on Mamata Banerjee of trying to shield criminals, an insult to the chair. “Such severe allegations have injured and hit the prestige of the highest person of the administration who is elected by the people”, Chandrima Bhattacharya wrote in her complaint against Malviya, while reminding that Anubrata Mondal, when, had accompanied Banerjee, was the president of the district the CM was visiting. She has called Malviya’s remarks “criminal in nature” and has urged police to take appropriate action against him. “He has no business to defame and indignity the chair”, the complaint, filed with Nimta Police Station in Kolkata, read.

The war of words had also spilled on social media. Countering Malviya and his attempt to establish association with pictures, TMC has shared the pictures of 3 BJP IT Cell men from Varanasi, accused of gangrape, whose pictures with PM Modi, Amit Malviya, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, Union Minister Smriti Irani have flooded the social media since their arrest by UP police. “What about PM’s gossip with rapist? You also sail on the same boat. Needs an answer, isn’t it?, Chandrima Bhattacharya wrote on ‘X’