BJP leader arrested in child-trafficking case
Jalpaiguri, Mar 01: The Crime Investigation Department of West Bengal on Tuesday night arrested Bharatiya Janata Party women’s wing leader Juhi Chowdhury from the Batasia area close to the Indo-Nepal border in North Bengal for her alleged connection in the Jalpaiguri child trafficking case.
“Juhi Chowdhury was arrested by our team from Batasi on Tuesday night,”
-CID DIG (Operations) Nishat Parvej
This comes little hours after Chandana Chakraborty, the key accused arrested in the case, claimed that Chowdhury had met Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kailash Vijayvargiya and party Parliamentarian Roopa Ganguly in connection to the racket.
With Juhi’s arrest, a total of 4 persons has so far been arrested in relation with the case for their alleged participation in the selling of babies and children across pan India and also to foreign couples in the last few months from a non-profit organisation (NGO) named Bimala Sishu Griho.
Chief Adoption Officer of Bimala Sishu Griho, Sonali Mondal, Chandana Chakraborty, Chairperson of Bimala Sishu Griho and Manas Bhowmik, Chandana’s brother, were arrested by a 7-member Investigation team.
The 3 were charged with selling at least seventeen children, aged between one to fourteen years, to foreign couples at a high price while falsely state that the children were handed over for legal adoption to needy couples after due screening and official procedures.
Juhi Chowdhury was being brought to Jalpaiguri for further interrogation and would be produced before the District Court tomorrow-Says the investigation team.
“The party was looking into the allegations against Juhi Chowdhury and would take action if she was found guilty” reacted the West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh.
The Crime Investigation Department blew off the lid of a child trafficking racket conducting raids in homes and nursing homes in Baduria of North 24 Parganas district, in Behala in the southern fringes of West Bengal and some other parts of south Bengal since November last year.
