3 MONTHS AFTER TMC’S ALLEGATION, NIA SENDS NEW SP TO WEST BENGAL

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has appointed a new Superintendent of Police in West Bengal – three months after the agency had called their SP rank officer at Delhi headquarters following the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) allegation that a BJP leader visited his house carrying cash in an envelope.

In April, the TMC alleged in a memorandum to the Election Commission (EC), that the BJP was misusing the NIA to target its political opponents. The party alleged that BJP member Jitendra Tiwari met an NIA SP rank officer at his residence on March 26. Along with its memorandum, the TMC submitted a copy of the visitor’s register at the SP’s residence with an entry allegedly showing Tiwari’s visit. The TMC claimed that Tiwari was seen entering with a packet in his hand and when he left an hour later, he was empty-handed.

A source said that a few days ago, the Director General of NIA, Sadanand Date, had decided to appoint P H Mahesh Narain, a 2012-batch Manipur cadre IPS officer as SP Kolkata.

In April, they first had called their SP rank officer at Delhi headquarters where senior officers met him and questioned him about all the allegations levelled by the TMC. After a month, he was asked to resume his duty and till that time, a DIG-rank officer, was also sent to West Bengal from Patna to supervise all the work/cases.

“He was asked to resume his duty after it was found that his conduct was not malafide, but he was handling the charge of Kolkata as ‘additional charge’ and his main charge is related with the human trafficking unit in Delhi. He came to NIA from the BSF on deputation in 2014 and is also looking after the additional charge of the human trafficking unit in Delhi,” the source said.

In April, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, accompanied by Bengal Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya, told a press conference that while entering a housing complex where the SP lives, Tiwari was carrying a white envelope containing money. The TMC alleged that he met the NIA SP for 52 minutes on March 26, and two TMC workers were arrested from Bhupatinagar on April 6 in connection with a 2022 blast case. Tiwari rejected the charge and demanded an apology from the TMC.

“If it is proved that we held any such meeting, then I will leave politics. Feeling the pressure, the TMC is trying to brand the NIA raid as a political conspiracy. According to the laws of our country, they (TMC) should prove the allegations against me. Apologise if you can’t prove it, or I will file a defamation case within seven days,” Tiwari  said at that time.

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2024-08-24T23:05:48Z dg43tfdfdgfd