Headlines
New Bengal CPI-M chief terms case against wife minor thing
Kolkata, March 13
Newly elected CPI-Ms' West
Bengal secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra on Friday dismissed as a "minor
thing" the slapping of a case against his wife and nephew for alleged
cheating and misappropriation of funds, saying such "false cases" have
been filed against over one lakh Marxist workers during the Trinamool
Congress regime.
Mishra, who took over the reins of the state
party a day after the West Bengal Police's Anti-Corruption Branch said
it has started a case against four people including his wife Usha Mishra
and his nephew Sudip Mishra, refused to make any further comments on
the matter.
"This is a minor thing. False cases have been slapped against over one lakh of our party workers and members.
"They
have been attacked, thrown out of their homes, and had to pay crores of
rupees as fine, some of them have been maimed for life," Mishra, also a
politburo member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, said in reply
to journalists' posers on the issue.
"Then so many people have
become martyrs (after we lost power). Compared to that this is a very
minor issue. I don't want to talk about it."
The ACB Thursday
said the case was started following a complaint by the state health
department in connection with funds received by the Baromohanpur
Bhagabati Devi Nari Kalyan Samity (BBDNKS) in connection with an
anti-AIDS project between 2007 and 2011. Mishra was the health minister
of the then Left Front government during the period.
The charges
include cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery for purpose of
cheating, criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code and related
provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
ACB personnel had
raided the NGO in Beldanga of West Midnapore district Wednesday. Usha
Mishra had dubbed it an attempt to tarnish her husband's image, while
the CPI-M urged people to protest against the "mean conspiracy".
In
a statement, the CPI-M said on Wednesday that earlier a non-bailable
case was slapped against Surjya Kanta Mishra's daughter, while his
brother - a former college principal - faced a similar action.
"These incidents are nothing but mean conspiracies to tarnish the image and harass comrade Mishra.
"It
would not be irrelevant to say that the Trinamool Congress and the
government have adopted this disgusting path in the backdrop of the
Central Bureau of Investigation sending a letter seeking details of
Trinamool's income and expenditure accounts," the CPI-M had said.