india

Updated: Mar 25, 2019 17:06 IST

Former IPS, Bharati Ghosh, who is contesting the Lok Sabha polls on a BJP ticket, has lodged a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of the state alleging that the Criminal Investigation Department of Bengal Police is tapping her mobile phone.

Ghosh is contesting from Ghatal constituency, where actor Dev of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) is the incumbent.

Ghosh (51) is a former confidante of TMC supremo and chief minister Mamata Banerjee and even described her as “the mother of Jungle Mahal (impoverished forested former-Maoist dominated areas in the western regions of Bengal)”, before she fell out with the ruling party in December 2017.

Earlier this month, Ghosh returned a medal and certificate for commendable service that Mamata Banerjee gave her on August 15, 2014, saying she does not need them to prove her worth.

On Monday, when she was reminded that she had once referred to the chief minister as the “mother of Jangle Mahal”, Ghosh replied, “Mothers can be of many types. even Kaikeyee (mother of Bharat in Ramayana, whose ploy sent Rama to the forest for 14 years) was a mother.”

Ghosh went underground last year for a prolonged period after was slapped with multiple cases under charges of extortion by the CID. She emerged in public after the Supreme Court directed the state government not to take any coercive action against her.

“An election candidate’s mobile phone cannot be tapped by any agency after declaration of candidature and during the period of election and if it is done, the act will be treated as a serious illegality,” read the letter sent by Ghosh’s advocate Pinaki Bhattacharyya.

“My client is an ex-IPS officer and former superintendent of police of Paschim Midnapore and due to her previous service experience, she can easily find out the differences of noise when a phone is tapped,” claimed the lawyer.

The tapping is jeopardising her preparations for the elections, she has alleged.

Out to campaign for the first time on Monday, Ghosh alleged, “The TMC has become politically bankrupt. It is also an opportunist party. The people will give it a befitting reply all over the state.”

In 2014, Dev won the constituency by a margin 2.6 lakh votes. He secured 50.70 per cent of the votes that year.

Ghosh joined the BJP on February 4 this year in Delhi.

Incidentally, BJP leaders such as Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh and party election cell convener for the party, Mukul Roy, have earlier alleged that the state government used to eavesdrop on their telephonic conversation.