Arrested BJP leader Juhi Chowdhury, suspected to be involved in a child trafficking racket in West Bengal, was being intensely grilled with the CID sleuths saying that a diary has details of her links with traffickers, police said on Wednesday
Siliguri: Arrested BJP leader Juhi Chowdhury, suspected to be involved in a child trafficking racket in West Bengal, was being intensely grilled with the CID sleuths saying that a diary has details of her links with traffickers, police said on Wednesday.
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Chowdhury was arrested by the state police's Criminal Investigation Department on Tuesday night from Batasia area close to the India-Nepal border in Darjeeling.
She is the fourth person arrested in the Jalpaiguri district case which has created a storm in West Bengal with its political connotations.
Chowdhury, who was on the run for the last few days after her name was linked to the case involving trafficking of at least 17 children, has been brought to Matigara police station here for interrogation.
She will be presented in the court on Wednesday, the officer said.
According to CID sources, the sleuths recovered the diary with detailed entries about Chowdhury's connection with the traffickers from fellow accused Manas Bhowmik who was arrested earlier this month.
According to the diary, Chowdhury accompanied the prime accused Chandana Chakraborty to Delhi on February 2 and held a meeting with BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya.
They were supposed to meet a central minister to discuss about the adoption centres in Jalpaiguri, sources said.
Chowdhury's arrest came on a day when Chandana Chakraborty, arrested in connection with the scandal earlier, blamed her for wrongdoing.
Chakraborty, chairperson of Jalpaiguri-based child adoption centre Bimala Sishu Griho, was arrested with Chief Adoption Officer Sonali Mondal for selling at least 17 children through shady adoption deals.
"Chowdhury is involved with the adoption centre for the last three years. If something wrong or immoral was done, it was done by her. Why am I being victimised? I am not the culprit," Chakraborty said on Tuesday.
She admitted going to Delhi with Chowdhury to seek "help" for her organisation and claimed that the BJP leader did all the negotiations with the senior leadership while she was in a different room.
"Juhi assured me she would sort out all the issues," Chakraborty said.
"I haven't talked to anyone, Juhi did. She might have talked to (BJP leaders) Roopa Ganguly and Kailash Vijayvargiya. I was sitting in a separate room. We are innocent. We will definitely help in the investigation," she said.
Meanwhile, BJP state President Dilip Ghosh claimed on Wednesday that his party's legal cell will try to get Chowdhury out on bail.
Ghosh said the party was not calling her innocent or guilty at this stage, but the law of the land should prevail.
Ghosh on Tuesday alleged that she was being victimised as part of a larger political conspiracy.
"Juhi is our party worker. I know her. Now suddenly her name has been linked into the case. So we are taking our own time. That doesn't mean that we are calling her innocent."
"She has to be tried according to law. If she is guilty, the party will not take her side. She should be punished as per law of the land. Our legal cell will try to secure her bail because till now we don't hold her guilty," Ghosh said.
Queried about Chakraborty naming her, Ganguly shot back: "Why should I respond to what an accused has said?"
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