Don't trust Mamata government: BJP on child racket arrest

In the wake of BJP leader Juhi Chowdhury's arrest in a child trafficking racket in West Bengal, the party's General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Wednesday cast aspersions on police action and called for a central agency probe.

Chowdhury, who was on the run for the past few days after her name was linked to the case of trafficking of 17 children, was arrested on Tuesday night in Darjeeling district of West Bengal.

"Under the Mamata Banerjee government, the police function as a political party. Police stations have been rendered as party offices and officers function as cadre of the (ruling Trinamool Congress)," said Vijayvargiya.

Citing the earlier arrest of Bharatiya Janata Party's Bengal unit Vice President Jayprakash Majumdar for extorting money from job seekers, Vijayvargiya said the Trinamool was using the arrest as a weapon to demoralise the BJP in the state.

"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 the police," he said.

"They can go to any extent. We would like to see the matter being probed by a central agency," said Vijayvargiya, asserting that the party will take action if anyone of its members was involved in the racket.

--IANS

and/py/vt