West Bengal BJP leader Rakesh Singh arrested in drugs case
BJP youth wing leader Pamela Goswami, who was arrested on February 19 for allegedly carrying 90 grams of cocaine, had accused Singh of framing her.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rakesh Singh was on Tuesday arrested in connection with a drugs seizure case from West Bengal’s East Burdwan district, The Hindu reported. BJP youth wing leader Pamela Goswami, who was arrested on February 19 for allegedly carrying 90 grams of cocaine, had accused Singh of framing her.
Singh was allegedly fleeing the state in a car, according to NDTV. The Kolkata Police have also arrested Singh’s two sons for allegedly trying to prevent them from entering their residence over the absence of a search warrant, which arrived later. The sons were identified as Suvam Singh, 25, and Saheb Singh, 21, reported India Today.
Singh’s sons claimed the police action against their father was vendetta and politically motivated. “My father is being victimised,” Saheb Singh told NDTV. “I don’t know anything about Pamela Goswami and the drugs case. My father is not involved. He is being victimised, I don’t know why.”
Rakesh Singh’s daughter Simran Singh alleged that the police assaulted her. “They pushed me, a lady police officer kicked me,” she told India Today. “My mother is in depression. They took my brothers away. I want justice. I will fight for it. I have not been allowed to meet my brothers. They did not mention why they were taking away my brothers.”
She claimed that her family has faced harassment before as her father was a political figure but never like this. “About 200 police personnel came to our house,” she said. “Twenty of them searched the house, they opened the almirahs, and they found nothing. They even wrote ‘nil’ on their paper. I don’t know what they had come to search for; my entire house is upside down.”
Earlier, the Kolkata Police had asked Rakesh Singh to appear before the department to record his statement in connection with Goswami’s case. Singh, however, had refused to appear, citing commitments to the party. He had said that he was travelling to Delhi and his lawyers could meet with the police.
Goswami had accused Singh of “sending men to plant” the drugs in her vehicle. She had claimed that a conspiracy was hatched against her. “I want CID [Crime Investigation Department] to probe the matter,” she had said while being produced before the court on February 20. “Singh, who is close to Kailash Vijayvargiya, is behind all this.”
Besides Goswami, two other people – Prabir Kumar Dey and Somnath Chatterjee – were also arrested. Dey is a friend of Goswami and her colleague at the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, while Chatterjee is her security guard. The two men were also in the car with Goswami.