Trafficking accused BJP leader sent to CID custody, political spat erupts

Kolkata BJP leader Juhi Chowdhury arrested for her alleged link to a child trafficking racket in West Bengal was on Wednesday sent to 12 days CID custody a senior official said An embarrassed BJP removed her as state secretary of its womens wingAmid tight security Chowdhury was produced at the Chief Judicial Magistrates 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 custodyChowdhury has been remanded to 12 days in CID custody said Additional Director General CID Rajesh Kumar claiming she was directly involved in new born child trafficking However Chowdhury the fourth person arrested in the case which has created a storm in Bengal with its political connotations claimed she was innocentI am innocent They cant prove me guilty she told media persons in the court premises 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 for interrogationCID sources said the agency has recovered from fellow accused Manas Bhowmik arrested last month a diary with detailed entries about Chowdhurys connection with traffickers According to the diary Chowdhury accompanied prime accused and Jalpaiguribased child adoption centre Bimala Sishu Griho chairperson Chandana Chakraborty to Delhi on February 2 and met Bharatiya Janata Party BJP General Secretary Kailash VijayvargiyaThey were also supposed to meet a Union Minister to discuss the adoption centres in Jalpaiguri sources said Following the court order the BJP removed Chowdhury from her Mahila Morcha post saying her activity has harmed the partys image Chowdhury went to Delhi with a woman accused of child trafficking without the partys consent She has been removed from her post in BJP as her activity is harmful for the partys image said BJP state president Dilip GhoshHours earlier Ghosh had said the party was not calling Chowdhury innocent or guilty at this stage but the law of the land should prevail He also said the BJP legal cell would assist her to get bail Juhi is our party worker I know her Now suddenly her name has been linked to the case So we are taking our own time That doesnt mean that we are calling her innocentShe has to be tried according to law If she is guilty the party will not take her side She should be punished as per law of the land Our legal cell will try to secure her bail because till now we dont hold her guilty Ghosh said Chowdhurys arrest came on a day when Chakraborty now in custody along with her aide Sonali Mondal for selling at least 17 children through shady adoption deals blamed her for wrongdoing and claimed they had visited Delhi to seek help for her organisation after an assurance from the BJP leader to sort out all the issuesI havent talked to anyone Juhi did She might have talked to BJP leaders Roopa Ganguly and Kailash Vijayvargiya I was sitting in a separate room she said However Vijayvargiya cast aspersions on the police action and advocated a central agency probe I have no trust in the police investigation In pursuance of a conspiracy one after the other leaders of our party are being falsely implicated and arrested We do not trust this Bengal government nor their policeThis government and their police can go to any extent So we would like to see the matter being probed by a central agency he said ActorturnedBJP MP Ganguly said those who are levelling such detestable charges against her and a young girl like Juhi Chowdhury would have to pay for it The home adoption centre was running for a long time How come the state government was not aware of any of these activities I hope they were not sleeping she said