Kolkata: BJP national general secretary, Kailash Vijayvargiya, and president of party’s women’s wing in Bengal and MP, Roopa Ganguly, were summoned by the CID on Thursday for questioning in connection with an alleged child-trafficking case in Jalpaiguri district.
Speaking to the News18, a senior CID officer said, “We have got some audio evidence as well as some documents against Kailash Vijayvargiya and Roopa Ganguly. We have asked both of them to appear before us immediately and asked them to cooperate with our officers investigating the case. We have sent summon letters to them and if they will not cooperate, we will take legal action against them.”
The officer said that one of the accused, Chandana Chakraborty, who ran the NGO Bimala Child Home, confessed that the two BJP leaders helped in renewing the licence of her NGO. He said they allegedly also influenced the government for a grant of Rs 22.5 lakh for Bimala Child Home and Ashray Child Home, which was also run by Chakraborty.
Vijayvargiya and Ganguly were not available for comments.
“Chakraborty said Vijayvargiya and Ganguly helped in many other ways in running her NGOs as well. We want to know what help they have provided to her and what was their interest,” said the officer. Claiming that the racket has some international links, he said, “This is a serious matter as we got information that several children were trafficked to foreign countries like US, Singapore and France.”
“Notice under section 160 CrPC has been sent to Vinayak Mishra, Prashant Sareen, Kailash Vijayvargiya and Roopa Ganguli in Jalpaiguri Kotwali police station case dated February 19, 2017 for examination. The case was lodged under Care and protection of Children Act. All of them have been asked to appear before the investigators on July 27 and 29,” a statement issued by the state CID said.
In January, the state CID had received a complaint from the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) - a statutory body under the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development - about ‘illegal activities’ at Bimala Child Home and ‘Ashray Child Home’ run by Chakraborty.
During investigation, BJP leader Juhi Chowdhury had emerged as a suspect and she was arrested in March from the India-Nepal border.
Chandana reportedly told the police that it was Chowdhury who lobbied with Vijayvargiya and Ganguly to resolve some issues about her shelter home. “There are allegation against Vijayvargiya and Ganguly for influencing Ministry of Women and Child Development’s CARA to grant a central aid of Rs 22.5 lakh for the shelter home,” the CID officer said.
He further said, “Chandana with the help of Vijayvargiya and Ganguly also tried to retransfer 14 children who were sent to other child care homes after district Child Welfare Committee noted irregularities at Ashray Child Home. We want to know why Chandana lobbied to retransfer these children. Was it meant for trafficking?”
However, BJP state president Dilip Ghosh rubbished these charges. “The allegations against Vijayvargiya ji and Ganguly are false. The ruling party in the state is trying to harass our leaders because CBI is summoning them in Narada and Saradha scams. This is an act of revenge from the State chief minister Mamata Banerjee. We will fight this issue legally and there is nothing worry about,” he said.
Comments
0 comment