Mukul Roy booked for taking bribe, moves Calcutta HC for anticipatory bail

Kolkata: Senior BJP leader Mukul Roy has landed in a fresh trouble after he was booked in an FIR on cheating charges for allegedly taking around Rs 70 lakh as bribe through his aides from a man, assuring him to get a berth in a railway panel.

To thwart arrest, he moved the Calcutta High Court for anticipatory bail on Wednesday following the arrest of one of his aides Baban Ghosh, a BJP labour wing leader, from Patuli in the city.

Baban, the BJP labour cell general secretary, was caught late on Tuesday night in the case which was initiated at the Sarsuna police station under Section 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) among other charges of the Indian Penal Code. Mr Roy's name is mentioned among the list of three accused, according to sources.

Santu Ganguly, the victim, lodged the complaint about cheating of Rs 70 lakh with the police against the trio in January this year, said deputy commissioner of police (south west) Nilanjan Biswas. Mr Ganguly alleged that Baban using the name of Mr Roy took the money from him in several rounds assuring him of making him a member of Zonal Railway Users Consultative Committee under the railway ministry.

"I had visited Parliament and the railway ministry many times. BJP leader Suresh Prabhu was the railway minister then. When nothing happened, I visited the railway office at Koilaghat. Only then I realised that I was cheated. I then lodged the complaint with the police," Mr Ganguly said.

Mr Biswas added that Baban was remanded in police custody till August 28 by the court following his production during the day. On the court premises, Baban however said, "It is a legal matter. The law will take its own course. It is a very old case and a concocted one. Our party leadership will comment on it."

Sources claimed that he played a crucial role behind the recent induction of a group of Tollywood actors into the BJP.

Strongly reacting to Baban's arrest and Mr Roy's name in the case, state BJP president Dilip Ghosh said, "Around 500 workers of our party have been in jail. We are fighting 28,000 cases in courts. An attempt has been under way to stop the BJP in the state."

The BJP MP claimed, "The Trinamul Congress has no other way to tackle us. That is why such cases are slapped on our workers. We will fight this case also.”