Mamata Banerjee pulls up cops over Hanskhali, Bogtui cases

Why should the government face embarrassment for your negligence, Bengal CM asks Ranaghat police chief

A house burnt down at Bogtui on March 21.  : File picture

Subhasish Chaudhuri   |  |TT    |   Calcutta   |    28.04.22  :  Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday pulled up administrative and police officials across the state, particularly police chiefs of Ranaghat and Birbhum, and said their inaction had embarrassed the state government.

Pointing at Ranaghat police chief Sayak Das and his Birbhum counterpart Nagendra Nath Tripathi for the incidents at Hanskhali and Bogtui, respectively, the chief minister blamed the two officers for “negligence” and “information failure”.

“Why should the government face embarrassment for your negligence?” an angry Mamata asked Das at Nabanna during the virtual administrative meeting with the DMs and SPs.

A 14-year-old girl was gang-raped allegedly by the son of a local Trinamul leader and his friends at Hanskhali on April 4. She died of excessive bleeding a day later. 

Nine persons died at Birbhum’s Bogtui in the aftermath of the murder of local Trinamul leader Bhadu Sheikh. 

Both the cases raised questions about the law and order in Bengal. Calcutta High Court handed over both the cases to the CBI.

“The CM is aware that there are serious lapses in investigation by cops,” said a retired police officer.

Aware that the  the Opposition parties was trying to put the government on the mat by questioning the state of law and order in Bengal, Mamata on Wednesday tried some damage control. She asked officers of the ranks of DIG, IG, ADG, and SP to make frequent visits to police stations.

“I will instruct ADG, IG, DIG…the DG is present here…ADG law and order and others are also present here. They should visit police stations. One can’t be a DIG and stay put at headquarters. When I become a DIG, the district should be under my control,” Mamata said.

“People should not be afraid of visiting police stations. There is a need to restore confidence among the people,” she added.

Interacting with officials of Ranaghat police district, she said: “Why did the Hanskhali incident occur? Why did you not collect information properly? You don’t have any source network… why did the family (of the girl)not contact the police (immediately)?”

She said: “The state government does not want to hide anything… rather ensure punishment for the guilty, whosoever he may be, even if the accused is my party’s block president.”

Lashing out at Das, Mamata held him and the ICs responsible for negligence.

She also accused Tripathi of negligence in connection with the Bogtui massacre. “There were serious lapses on your part. The incident could have been avoided if your DSP had rushed to the spot in time,” she said.

She asked SPs and DMs to maintain cordial relations. Sources in the government said lack of coordination between SPs and DMs had been creating hurdles for several priority projects in a few south Bengal districts.

“I want the DM and SP to move jointly,” she said, iterating the need to take action against fake appointments, extortion, illegal activities, arms trade, fake news, threats to communal harmony, and attempts to malign the state government.

She referred to the death of a Visva-Bharati student and asked the CID to look into it.

Mamata referred to the recent spurt in Maoist activities in Jungle Mahal districts, especially Jhargram.

 Blaming the BJP for the sudden appearance of Maoist posters in the Jungle Mahal, she also asked the police to keep tabs on the movement of Maoist sympathisers from Jharkhand. “There are few posters being put up by BJP and a few people are spreading panic there (Jhargram) about Maoists. Did you seal the Belpahari border (with Jharkhand)? I have information that a few (Maoist) from Jharkhand are entering our state and a few here are sympathising with them,” she said.

“I have information that four such persons have entered (the state),” Mamata told Jhargram SP Biswajit Ghosh.

“I had sent the DGP to Jhargram. How many people have been arrested?” Mamata asked DGP Manoj Malaviya. The DGP said three persons had been arrested and information was being collected about two others.

Mamata said she would visit Jhargram very soon to conduct a meeting there. Mamata also alerted police of Purulia and Birbhum, the two districts that have borders with Jharkhand, to keep a vigil on the movement and activities of Maoists.

Additional reporting by Snehamoy Chakraborty