Once a Mamata aide, exIPS officer now charged with extortion, forgery
The West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Friday submitted the chargesheet against former IPS officer Bharati Ghosh, accusing her of extortion, forgery and criminal conspiracy, and labelling her an absconder.
Ghosh, earlier the superintendent of police of West Midnapore district, was once a confidante of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
On February 1, Chandan Maji, a resident, lodged a complaint alleging a few police officers had taken 375 grams of gold from him and never paid him, nor returned him the metal.
The charge sheet was submitted in a court in Ghatal West Midnapore district in connection with an extortion case . Nine people, including Ghosh, her husband and four police officers, are accused in the case.
On February 9, the court issued arrest warrants against Ghosh, but she remained untracked. Though the four police officers, regarded close to Ghosh, were arrested in the case, the former IPS officer has managed to elude police.
Ghosh’s husband MV Raju, who lives in Kolkata, was questioned by officials several times.
“The officers, who were arrested and interrogated, admitted that they all committed the acts under the instruction of Ghosh, who was then the superintendent of district police. A huge amount of gold and cash were found from the residences of Ghosh and her husband” said a CID officer on the condition of anonymity.
The CID said it found ₹2.4 crore in cash and gold during the raids at premises allegedly owned by Ghosh, her husband and other police officers. Bimal Ghorai, a local businessman, and Rajmangal Singh, the caretaker of an apartment in Kolkata where Ghosh and Raju own flats, were also nabbed.
In an audio message circulated from an undisclosed location, Ghosh said: “The gold that I possess was declared before I joined the police force. My father, a zamindar of Madhupur, gifted me the gold. The CID is maligning me under instructions from the state government.” KOUSHIK DUTTA
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