Drug trafficking: Pamela Goswami names BJP leaders at Alipore court- I want the CID to probe this case and Rakesh Singh to be arrested

The youth wing member, her friend Prabir Kumar Dey and private security guard Somnath Chatterjee were remanded in police custody till February 25

Pamela Goswami outside Judges Court Alipore on Saturday.: Bishwarup Dutta

Special Correspondent   |   TT   |   Alipore   |    21.02.21:  BJP youth wing leader Pamela Goswami, who was arrested on Friday for alleged possession of a white powdery substance, shouted the names of two BJP leaders while she was being produced in court on Saturday.

She said: “Ami chai CID tadanta hok, ebong BJP’r Rakesh Singh jeno arrest hoy. Eta onar chakranto. Kailash Vijayvargiya ghonishtho Rakesh Singh jeno arrest hoy, eta onar chakranto (I want the CID to probe this case and Rakesh Singh to be arrested. This is his conspiracy. Rakesh Singh, who is close to Kailash Vijayvargiya, must be arrested. It is his conspiracy).”

When she was escorted out of the Alipore NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) court, Goswami again shouted out Singh’s name saying he had sent someone to frame her and plant the narcotics in her car.

Goswami, her friend Prabir Kumar Dey and private security guard Somnath Chatterjee were remanded in police custody till February 25.

Asked about the allegations, BJP leader Rakesh Singh said he was not in contact with her for the last few years. “She has been tutored by Calcutta police…. Why was she silent when she was arrested yesterday and after eight hours suddenly take my name? This is a political conspiracy by the ruling party and the police are hang-in-glove with them,” Singh told Metro.

BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, on being asked about Goswami's allegations, told TV reporters: “I am not aware about this (that Goswami has taken his name). I will not comment.”

Asked about the charges against Goswami, he said: “I have faith in the law. If someone is wrong, law will take its own course. I will not comment on this matter.”

Police had intercepted Goswami’s car on NR Avenue in New Alipore on Friday afternoon and allegedly seized 90 grams of suspected cocaine worth around Rs 10 lakh from her handbag and the front seat of the car in which she and the two others were travelling.

The state’s lawyer said the police needed Goswami’s custody to establish the drug trail and find out if there was a larger racket. He said that her remand may help the police get information that could lead to the recovery of more banned psychotropic substances.

According to the rule, the presence of psychotropic substances inside the vehicle was enough to arrest all the occupants of the car. “In such cases it is presumed that all occupants had knowledge about the presence of the banned drugs in the vehicle. Hence all are arrested,” said an officer.

Goswami’s defence lawyers pleaded before the court that their client had been framed. They, however, did not mention anyone’s name. They blamed the police for some “procedural lapses” while registering the FIR and making the general diary entry when the police team had started from New Alipore police station for the operation on Friday.

“Our client has told the police that there was another man in the car who had got off some time before this incident happened. She has been framed by that man,” one of her lawyers, who did not wish to be named, told Metro.

The police said they had kept the investigation open and “all angles will be probed”.

The court granted the prosecution’s prayer and sent Goswami and her two associates to police remand till February 25.