Days after a purported video of a BJP leader claiming that the sexual harassment complaints by women in Sandheskhali were filed at the behest of Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari surfaced, the TMC Thursday filed a complaint with the Election of Commission of India (ECI) against him and other BJP leaders accusing them of “fabricating rape allegations” against “innocent individuals like Shahjahan Sheikh”.
Last week, the TMC had posted an alleged video which featured BJP mandal president (Sandeshkhali) Gangadhar Koyal where he can be heard saying: “We got it done (complaints of sexual harassment in Sandeshkhali) as per instructions of Suvendu da (Suvendu Adhikari), he helped us.” Both Adhikari and his party had denied the allegations and called the video a “TMC conspiracy”. Koyal had also stated that his voice had been “tampered with” using a “high-tech” method.
In its complaint, the TMC has named Adhikari, Koyal and BJP’s mandal sabhapati in Sandeshkhali-I Shanti Dolui, and other unknown individuals.
“The TMC has alleged that the evidence shows that they (BJP) were spreading orchestrated/manufactured and unverified allegations against it and its leaders,” said an EC official.
The complaint stated that the BJP leaders had committed “serious fraud upon society by terrorising the general public with a false narrative of hostility being committed against women of Sandeshkhali, including rape.”
The ruling party claimed that such “illegal acts” had caused terrors in the minds of the general public during the ensuing general elections.
“The evidence provided, including recorded conversations and testimonies, clearly indicates a systematic and premeditated effort by BJP members to fabricate rape allegations against innocent individuals, namely Shahjahan Sheikh, Shibu Hazra, and Uttam Sardar. These actions were evidently motivated by a desire to tarnish the image of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) and sway the public opinion in favor of the BJP in the state of West Bengal,” it read further.
Alleging that Koyal had “admitted to manipulating the women of Sandeshkhali into filing false rape complaints under the instructions of Adhikari”, TMC stated: “He (Koyal) confessed to coercing women into making false accusations, offering them monetary incentives, and orchestrating the entire scheme to frame innocent individuals for political gain.”
Criticising the BJP, state minister Babul Supriyo posted on ‘X’: “(It’s) Clear that he understands that his dirty-filthy-minded Sandeshkhali plot has gone wary and he with his BJP stands exposed and how.”
BJP’s Amit Malviya slammed the TMC over the videos and claimed that it had launched a campaign to “malign the image of Sandeshkhali victims”.
“The TMC has now launched a systematic campaign to malign the victims of Sandeshkhali and weaken their movement for justice. A fake, AI-generated video of Gangadhar Koyal, a junior BJP functionary, was put out claiming that the movement was orchestrated and funded by the LoP. Koyal later denied saying anything like that and has now written to the CBI to include the fake video in their investigation,” Malviya, who’s the party’s co-incharge for West Bengal, wrote on ‘X’ on Thursday.