Child trafficking accused BJP leader sent to police custody

PARTNER IN CRIME: Juhi Chowdhury is the 4th person held creating a political storm

SILIGURI: BJP leader Juhi Chowdhury, arrested for her alleged connection to a child trafficking racket in West Bengal, was on Wednesday sent to 12 days CID custody, a senior CID official said.

Amid tight security and presence of a large number of media persons, Chowdhury was produced in the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court in Siliguri, after her Tuesday night arrest from Batasia area close to the IndiaNepal border in Darjeeling.

While the prosecution sought her CID remand, the defence counsel moved for bail. After hearing both sides, the judge rejected the bail application and sent her to CID custody.

“Chowdhury has been remanded to 12 days of CID custody,” said Additional Director-General, CID Rajesh Kumar, claiming she was directly involved in new born child trafficking.

She is the fourth person arrested in the Jalpaiguri district case which has created a storm in Bengal with its political connotations.

Chowdhury, who was on the run for the last few days after her name was linked to the case involving trafficking of at least 17 children, was brought to Matigara police station here for interrogation.

CID sources said the agency has recovered a diary with detailed entries about her connection with the traffickers from fellow accused Manas Bhowmik who was arrested earlier this month.

According to the diary, Chowdhury accompanied prime accused Chandana Chakraborty to Delhi on February 2 and held a meeting with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kailash Vijayvargiya.

They were supposed to meet a Union Minister to discuss about the adoption centres in Jalpaiguri, sources said.

Following the court order, BJP state committee removed the the Jalpaiguri district women wing (Mohila morcha) leader from the party, stating her activity has harmed the image of BJP.

“Chakraborty went to Delhi with a child trafficking accused woman without the party’s consent. She is removed from BJP as her activity is harmful for the party’s image,” said BJP state president Dilip Ghosh.

Chowdhury’s arrest came on a day when Chakraborty, arrested in connection with the scandal earlier, blamed her for wrongdoing.

Chakraborty, chairperson of Jalpaiguri-based child adoption centre Bimala Sishu Griho, was arrested with Chief Adoption Officer Sonali Mondal for selling at least 17 children through shady adoption deals.

On Wednesday morning, Ghosh said that his party’s legal cell will try to get Chowdhury out on bail.