Within hours after Chandana Chakraborty, the prime accused in West Bengal child trafficking case, named senior BJP leaders along with state Mahila Morcha general secretary Juhi Chowdhury as associates with the racket, Chowdhury was arrested late last night by the CID. On Wednesday, BJP state leadership removed Juhi Chowdhury from his post.

In a press statement issued by the party it was told that while Juhi Chowdhury had been asked to relinquish the post of state general secretary, Bharatiya Janata Mahila Morcha, her father, Rabindranarayan Chowdhury, had also been dropped as the state committee member.

She was held from Batasi in Kharibari, near Indo-Nepal border last night from a relative’s place. “She was arrested by our team from Batasi on Tuesday night,” said CID DIG (operations) Nishat Parvej. It was also found out that she had taken about Rs 3 lakh from Chakraborty citing different reasons.

State BJP leadership, however, are divided in their opinion about Chowdhury. “Juhi has been charged with a serious offence but that is not the reason why she has been removed from her post. She, along with her father had taken the prime accused in child trafficking to Delhi without the knowledge of the state leadership and her activities there from what we have come to know, have tainted the party’s image. That is why they have been removed from their posts. If they can fight it legally and prove themselves innocent they will be reinstated and in the meantime if they seek help from the party, the legal cell of the state BJP will surely help,” said Dilip Ghosh, state BJP president.

Party Rajya Sabha MP Roopa Ganguly thinks Chowdhury has been framed. “She is such a little girl. I personally don’t believe she can be involved in such a heinous crime. She will have to fight it legally and I am confident she will emerge stronger. The party has its own mechanism and has acted according to the decision of the committee. We all will have to abide by that,” she told talking to DNA.

Chowdhury had been produced at Jalpaiguri court today and was sent for a 12-day CID custody. “It is a political conspiracy against me. Truth will prevail eventually,” she told media persons as she was being taken to the prison van.

CID sources said that Chowdhury would not be brought to Kolkata and would be interrogated in north Bengal for the next 12 days where, they believe, she would reveal important information. “Several other names have come up and would be called for interrogation,” said a senior CID official.

It was also found out that CID officials had to put up a drama disguised as sages to trap Chowdhury from a place near the Indo-Nepal border after they got a tip off that she was hiding there. “Our officers were posted at a place near the house at Batasi in Darjeeling where she was hiding. They had disguised as sages for some days gathering information and even getting acquainted to the other family members and then when they were sure that she was in the house, they went in last night and arrested her,” the official said. He added that she had fled to Nepal illegally when her name came up in the case and was in regular touch with her father. “She had assured that she would use her political clout to get funds for the Homes of Chakraborty against a cut money for herself,” she added.