TMC, BJP in war of words over fact-finding team's recommendations
BJP
were locked in a war of words on Tuesday after the latter's fact-finding team recommended a probe by a central agency into the alleged gang rape of a law student in Kolkata.
The team claimed the state police's handling of the case raised suspicion of attempts being made to save the culprits.
The team also recommended that a request be made to the Centre for "effective measures" to control the situation in the state, said former Union minister and former Mumbai Police chief
Satya Pal Singh
at a press conference.
Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh told reporters: "This BJP fact-finding committee, led by Satyapal Singh, is shamelessly lying and distorting the truth. What happened is a social crime, and an inquiry is underway. Police arrested the culprits within a few hours, an investigation is ongoing; so why do they need to create drama?"
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"They are blaming the family for not answering the phone, blaming the media, and so on.
If any wrongdoing occurs here, Mamata Banerjee govt takes police action. What about UP, MP, Tripura, Manipur, Gujarat, Delhi, Odisha? A few days ago, a police constable in UP raped a student, and two days before that, a nurse was murdered inside a hospital in MP. Does this fact-finding team go there or not?" he added.
Sharing the findings of the team with the media, Singh alleged that the handwritten complaint submitted by the survivor was tampered with to remove names of the accused.
Rajya Sabha MP Manan Kumar Mishra claimed the Kolkata Police commissioner (Manoj Jha) was evasive in his reply when the inquiry committee asked him to clarify why names were erased.
Ghosh said: "BJP fact-finding teams don't go to BJP-governed states because they only get travel allowances to visit Bengal. If political tourists come to Bengal and want to find facts, why didn't they include the woman who spoke out against Karthik Maharaj?"
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