Sandeshkhali ‘victim’ withdraws sexual assault complaint

Tribune News Service

Kolkata, May 9

One of the complainants in the Sandeshkhali case has withdrawn the sexual assault and land grab charge against TMC’s Sheikh Shahjahan, claiming she was forced to sign a piece of paper by people linked to the BJP.

‘Sting op’: TMC approaches EC

The TMC got a complaint lodged with the EC on Thursday against BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari and others, claiming a leader of the saffron party had “confessed” on camera that the rape accusations in the Sandeshkhali incident were concocted, and urged the poll panel to issue directions to the police to initiate criminal proceedings against the leaders.

The paper carried a fake complaint about TMC men sexually assaulting her, she claimed.

Talking to reporters, the woman, accompanied by others, claimed they actually wanted to complain about not receiving payment under the MGNREGA job scheme but were instead asked to sign a paper that stated they were raped. “No rape incident took place. We are not involved in those things. We are poor people and work hard to earn a living,” she said. The BJP has rejected the claims made by the woman and slammed the Mamata Banerjee-led government for spreading misinformation.

“The TMC has now launched a systematic campaign to malign the victims of Sandeshkhali and weaken their movement for justice. First, an attempt was made to put out a fake, AI-generated video of Gangadhar Koyal, a junior BJP functionary, claiming the movement was orchestrated and funded by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari. Koyal later denied saying anything like that and has now written to the CBI to include the fake video in its investigation,” Amit Malviya, chief of BJP’s IT cell, said. “Again it is being claimed that one of the ‘victims’ has gone back on her statement, alleging the BJP forced her to sign a blank paper. Another video of BJP candidate Rekha Patra is being circulated, in which she is seen alleging that people not involved with the movement were benefiting from the media attention. In both cases, neither is denying the crimes perpetrated in Sandeshkhali,” Malviya added.

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