Kolkata: BJP’s north Kolkata functionary Sudeep Ram, who had allegedly locked Entally Police Station on the night of Independence Day, has been suspended temporarily after he failed to give a satisfactory answer within seven days to justify his act. He will remain suspended till further orders.
Reacting to this, Sudeep Ram told TOI: “I have been showcaused by the party and I shall respond on time. The allegations against me are not true and all that I can say is that I have been framed.”
Party insiders said that the issue was raised earlier this week when Sunil Bansal was in Kolkata. Entally’s Priyanka Tibrewal was asked to appear before the party bosses in the state. Sources said that locals had also lodged a complaint alleging extortion and intimidation in the party office.
The case goes back to an old rivalry between two groups in the area — one led by the followers of Tibrewal and the other by two brothers, Dilip Ram and Sudeep Ram. According to sources, Dilip and Sudeep’s group was planning to perform Durga Puja in ward 54 of Padmapukur. But Tibrewal’s group allegedly came in the way. Later, the Ram brothers had to back out.
Ram’s name had also cropped up when an old pump house on the campus of NRS Medical College and Hospital was painted in saffron and turned into a party office. This led to a protest by a section of students who locked the room and wrote on the wall that no politics would be allowed on the hospital campus. But their scribblings were allegedly whitewashed later.
The insiders of the hospital alleged that after the assembly poll results were declared on May 4, Sudeep and Dilip Ram started “dominating” the NRS campus and they took over the room to make it a party office. The hospital authority lodged a complaint with Entally Police Station.
“Outsiders used to stay on the hospital campus throughout the night, and they flexed muscles whenever we objected. Now the outsiders continue entering the hospital and they play carrom in the room around 11 pm,” said a junior doctor of the hospital.
Party sources said that the Ram brothers were allegedly not having a good relationship with the local police after the cops took a few actions based on local complaints of intimidation.
The protest took place in the wee hours of I-Day and involved one local BJP faction. The FIR by police confirmed that the main entry to Entally Police Station was indeed locked by the protesters to pressurise cops to accede to their demands.
Locals alleged that around 80 to 90 protesters kept the police station out of bounds for the general public for nearly 1.5 hours using locks and chains. The demonstration was staged following a clash between the two BJP factions.