A BJP ‘gaddar’ wanted to kill Abhishek Banerjee but we thwarted…,claims Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in a shocking claim, on Tuesday alleged that a Bharatiya Janata Party leader had been after her nephew and TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee’s life, tried killing him. This came a day after the Kolkata Police special task force along with the detective department had arrested a man named Rajaram Rege from Mumbai, accused of plotting an attack on Abhishek Banerjee. Rege, allegedly linked to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, had recently visited Kolkata. According to Police, Rege had stayed at a hotel near Abhishek Banerjee’s house in Kolkata and had allegedly taken pictures of his house as part of an alleged recce.

Mamata Banerjee without naming the BJP leader in specific, referred to him as ‘gaddar’ (traitor), commonly used as alluding to former TMC leader and now BJP Bengal leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari. “In the middle of Lok Sabha Elections, this BJP ‘gaddar’ (traitor) had threatened a big explosion. If you are so troubled, then kill me if you can. You had sent people to kill Abhishek. We caught him. That man had done recce of Abhishek’s house. Called him on FaceTime and had sought time. He wanted to meet and kill him. Anyone who stands up against BJP is either jailed or they want to eliminate them,” said Mamata Banerjee during a public meeting in Bolpur, Birbhum district.

According to police, Rege had managed to collect the phone numbers of Abhishek Banerjee and his PA. Several documents have been recovered from him, claimed officials. Police have been scanning the CCTV footage to map his movement in the city. Rege’s name had allegedly come up in one of the testimonies of 26/11 Mumbai attack accused David Headley, where Headly had claimed to have met him. Mamata Banerjee’s charges came days after Suvendu Adhikari had warned of a ‘big explosion’ in Bengal (some big development presumably) “that would shake up the entire TMC leadership”. Adhikari had said that on Saturday and Rege was arrested on Monday. TMC had called out a link between Adhikari’s threat and Rege’s purported visit to Kolkata.​