AGARTALA: Niti Deb, wife of former chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb, registered an FIR on Tuesday seeking an investigation into a defamatory note circulated on social media soon after Deb quit as CM on May 14.
The complaint mentioned that the note was false and defamatory. However, police said the note was circulated from a deactivated phone number and an investigation has been launched to trace the source.
The note has detailed some specific charges against Biplab Deb, including the case references, which was circulated among the top brasses of BJP in New Delhi and the media. The post said Deb was forced to resign following some serious personal charges. The BJP insiders alleged that in the run-up to Deb’s resignation, a conspiracy was hatched against deputy chief minister and well-liked leader of the state, Jishnu Dev Varma, to prevent his elevation as chief minister.
TMC leader and former BJP MLA Ashis Das told the media, “On May 11 night, Jishnu’s son Prateek Kishore Dev Varma, was in a hotel where he was seen misbehaving with members of the parliamentary panel in an inebriated state.” He questioned how Prateek was inside the lobby in an inebriated condition when parliamentarians were sitting and who had collected the CCTV footage from the hotel immediately after the incident and sent it to the national media overnight. Prateek had also created a ruckus a few months ago when TMC MP Sushmita Dev was in the hotel, he added.
“In both the incidents, Prateek was invited to the hotel by some influential people where he was made to drink and instigated to create a nuisance. The conspiracy was hatched to embarass Dev Varma and only when Deb’s departure was certain. Dr Manik Saha was then chosen to take over from Deb,” Das alleged.
A section of BJP insiders has agreed with Das and raised a demand for an inquiry. The opposition CPM and Congress have separately sought an explanation from BJP on the resignation of Deb and clarification of the allegations against him.
A BJP leader on condition of anonymity said former CM Deb’s son had also been involved in several such incidents in public places, including beating up an on-duty policeman and BJP youth front leader. But those incidents were hushed up, he added. He said Biplab’s wife too was accused of running an NGO, which allegedly accepted foreign grants without having FCRA registration but no inquiry was initiated.
Meanwhile, BJP vice-president Rajib Bhattacharjee said, “This is a conspiracy and nefarious attempt by a vested interest group to malign Deb and defame the party. The police have already launched an investigation into the note.”
