BJP demands Mamata apology for shielding Tapas Paul

In the wake of the Calcutta High Court ordering a CID probe into Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Paul's kill and rape remarks, the BJP Thursday said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should publicly apologise for "patronising a criminal".

"The chief minister all these days has been shielding and patronising a criminal like Paul by ordering her police not to touch him. But now that the court has ordered a CID probe, she should publicly apologise for patronising a criminal," said state Bharatiya Janata Party president Rahul Sinha.

The bench of Justice Nishita Mhatre earlier Thursday ordered a CID probe against the actor-turned-politician for publicly exhorting his party workers to kill Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) activists and threatening to unleash his boys to rape their women.

Referring to the high court Wednesday ordering a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the murder of an independent panchayat member in Birbhum district, Sinha said the Banerjee government has refused to learn from its mistakes despite receiving repeated jolts from the courts.

He also attacked the Mamata Banerjee regime over the Sep 17 police crackdown on demonstrating Jadavpur students.

Meanwhile, in a separate development, Sharmista Kar Purakayastha, the wife of Kolkata Police Commissioner Surajit Kar Purakayastha, Thursday joined the BJP.

The city police chief has been facing flak from several quarters for denying that the Jadavpur students were assaulted and baton charged.