Two weeks after Trinamool Congress (TMC) spokesperson Saket Gokhale was arrested for siphoning money, party supremo Mamata Banerjee alleged ‘procedural lapses’ in the investigation process.
Gokhale used to be a Congress-supporting troll who hailed Rahul Gandhi. He had suddenly joined TMC.
While addressing a public meeting in Murshidabad, she claimed, “On Saturday (January 14) night, the Gujarat police along with the Delhi police personnel illegally removed CCTV cameras from Banga Bhavan in Delhi. Won’t you journalists respond to this high-handedness?”
“Why don’t you raise these questions? Who stays in the new Banga Bhavan? I stay at my nephew Abhishek’s house (when I go to Delhi). If I visit the National Capital alone, then, I sometimes stay at the Banga Bhavan,” Mamata Banerjee further added.
She claimed, “Remember, the West Bengal Governor, Chief Justice and Judges of the Calcutta High Court, media persons stay there (at the Banga Bhavan). With that, they now have the footage of the privileged/confidential interactions between them? Who gave you the authority to take away the CCTV footage?”
“Remember, I do not endorse the ‘bulldozer policy.’ But those who try to run down democracy with a bulldozer, I warn them about their closure (in future),” Mamata Banerjee was heard as saying.
TMC leader Saket Gokhale was arrested for the third time in December last year by the Gujarat Police for siphoning off money in the name of activism. The police had found accounts linked to Gokhale where he was receiving money, which he claimed was being used for legal fees for activism-related cases but was instead being withdrawn by him for personal finance.
Saket Gokhale was arrested from Delhi’s Banga Bhavan. Mamata Banerjee has stated that the Gujarat police taking away CCTV footage from Banga Bhavan is illegal and it has been done without the due permission from the Bengal government.
“One of our party workers, who does social work, was wrongfully arrested from Banga Bhavan by the Gujarat Police. He was going to Rajasthan. He was arrested again even after being released on bail”, she added referring to Gokhale.