Cops grill Mithun

Actor accused of making provocative speeches

Actor Mithun Chakraborty faced questioning by the Kolkata Police on his 71st birthday in a case against him for allegedly making explosive and provocative speeches during his campaign for the BJP in the West Bengal Assembly Election.

The grilling session, which took place on a virtual mode on the direction of the Calcutta High Court on June 11 due to

Covid-19 pandemic and was recorded also, lasted for around 45 minutes on Wednesday morning relating to the FIR on him under sections 120B,

153A, 504, 505 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

On May 6, a Trinamul Congress worker had lodged a complaint with the Manicktala police station against Mithun for his comments Marbo Ekhane Lash Porbe Shoshane (I will hit you here and the body will fall in the crematorium) and Ek Chhobole Chhobi (Just one snakebite will turn one into a photograph) on March 7 at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Brigade Parade Ground rally where he joined the BJP.

The cops of the Manicktala police station asked Mithun a list of around a dozen questions, according to sources.

They wanted to know from him about the contents of his speech on that day, why he made the comments and whether he received any amount for his campaign.

In his reply, Mithun claimed that he joined the BJP inspired by its ideology and not for any financial benefits, sources revealed. He also told the investigating officer of the case that he had used popular dialogues of his Bengali films in his speech for mere entertainment of the crowd of his party supporters and not to create any provocation.

Meanwhile in another trouble for Suvendu Adhikari, the BJP MLA of Nandigram who is also the leader of the opposition in the state, the detective department of the city police has taken over the probe of a fake government job racket in between June 2019 and December 2020 relating to his department when he was the state irrigation minister in the Mamata Banerjee government.

One of his close aides and main accused of the scam, Rakhal Bera, was recently arrested by the Manicktala police and was remanded in police custody. Since many similar complaints surfaced against Rakhal in other parts of the state, the detective department took over the case.