Four ‘kidnapped’ Bengal panchayat poll winners return home, accuse ‘police’

The four opposition candidates won the Krishnachandrapur gram panchayat seats from Mathurapur in South 24 Parganas district against the ruling TMC candidates

Four West Bengal gram panchayat election winners, who were allegedly kidnapped from a house in Kolkata, returned home on Sunday and alleged that they were kidnapped by Trinamool Congress (TMC) men on July 27.

The panchayat elections in West Bengal were held amid violence across the state (File Photo)

They have alleged that some men in police uniforms were present when they were made to sign some statements that they did not write.

The four opposition candidates won the Krishnachandrapur gram panchayat seats from Mathurapur in South 24 Parganas district against the ruling TMC candidates in the July 8 polls.

Those allegedly kidnapped on the night of July 27 from a guest house in the Panchasayar area under the jurisdiction of the Kolkata police include three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates and an independent candidate supported by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M).

The opposition members had left their homes and were hiding allegedly after being pressured by the TMC to join the party.

The winners, two women and two men made the allegations against the TMC and the police 24 hours after a video surfaced on social media on Saturday in which they could be heard saying that they had not been kidnapped and were safe.

HT could not verify the authenticity of the video.

Homemakers Puja Chhatui and Kamala Mondal, who won seats for the BJP, took a U-turn before the media on Sunday.

“We all left our village and moved to the guest house at Panchasayar. We were afraid that TMC members might force us to switch sides. Some armed TMC men came to the guest house on the night of July 27 and kidnapped us. They repeatedly changed our location over the next two days,” Chhatui told the local media after returning home.

“On Saturday, some men in police uniform were present when the TMC workers made us sign some statements that they had already written. We could not read the documents,” said Kamala.

The third BJP candidate, Sushanta Mondal, said: “The video people saw was recorded by the kidnappers. They forced us to say that we were safe.”

The CPI(M)-backed independent candidate, Narayan Haldar, did not make any comments.

A Kolkata police official said on condition of anonymity that no evidence of kidnapping was found when the Panchasayar police investigated the complaint lodged by South 24 Parganas CPI(M) leader Kanti Ganguly, who was a minister during the Left regime.

“The Panchasayar police were informed by these four persons on Friday night that they had not been kidnapped but were hiding,” the official said.

Ganguly alleged that policemen and TMC workers worked in tandem.

“Is it possible to kidnap four persons unless the police are involved?” Ganguly said.

Pradyut Baidya, president of the BJP’s Mathurapur unit, told HT that none of the three BJP candidates contacted the party after returning home.

“I heard what they told the local media but I cannot say anything before talking to them. However, we are moving the Calcutta high court,” said Baidya.

The TMC, however, has denied the allegations. Saokat Molla, the TMC legislator from Canning East, said, “There was no abduction. These people are keen on joining TMC. They left home to avoid their party leaders,” Molla said.

Once a bastion of the Left parties, most parts of South 24 Parganas are now in control of the ruling TMC. Party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee represents the district’s Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha seat.

The panchayat elections in West Bengal were held amid violence across the state. While opposition parties claim that 55 people have died so far in clashes during and after the polls, chief minister Mamata Banerjee told the state Assembly earlier this week that 29 lives were lost in poll-related clashes and many of the victims were TMC supporters.