West Bengal general Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s youth wing, Pamela Goswami, was arrested in Kolkata’s New Alipore area on Friday, for allegedly carrying 90 grams of cocaine in her car, The Indian Express reported, quoting the police.
Besides Goswami, two other people – Prabir Kumar Dey and Somnath Chatterjee – were also arrested. Dey is a friend of Goswami and her colleague at the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, while Chatterjee is her security guard, according to NDTV. The two men were also in the car with Goswami.
All three of them have been booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 and will be produced in a court on Saturday, The Indian Express reported.
“Acting on a tip-off, the New Alipore police station carried out an operation and spotted one Honda BR-V car in front of Parameswari Bhawan at NR Avenue [in] New Alipore,” Sudheer Kumar Neelakantam, Deputy Commissioner of Police of south Kolkata zone said, according to The Indian Express. “After searching [the car], approximately 90 grams of narcotic material [suspected cocaine] worth approximately Rs 10 lakh was found.”
Multiple reports quoted police sources who said that Goswami was spotted as she would often park her car at a particular location, and so it was under investigation if she was part of a drug racket.
BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said that the law will take its own course on the matter, adding that there could be a conspiracy involved, NDTV reported. “The model code of conduct has still not kicked in and the police is under state control... Anything could have happened,” he said.
The Trinamool Congress however attacked the BJP. “I feel ashamed something like this could happen in Bengal,” Trinamool Congress leader Chandrima Bhattacharya, told NDTV. “This is the real picture emerging of BJP in Bengal. Earlier, some BJP leaders were named in a child trafficking case.”
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