Congress condemns 'assault' of Chowdhury by police
Agartala: The opposition Congress in Tripura on Thursday condemned the alleged assault on senior CPI(M) leader and former state minister Badal Chowdhury, who was arrested in a corruption case, by the police.
Chowdhury on Wednesday alleged that he and his wife were beaten up by the police while he was being "forcibly" brought from a private hospital to a police station here.
"We condemn the incident as barbaric. When he (Chowdhury) was under treatment in a hospital, the police forcibly picked him up and took him to lock up," senior Congress leader Gopal Roy told reporters.
Chowdhury, a CPI(M) central committee member who was the PWD minister during the Left Front regime, was arrested on October 21 from the private hospital where he was admitted.
"When he was brought to the police station, he was wearing a dress provided by the hospital for its patients.
This proves that he was not discharged by the hospital. It is an inhuman and uncivilised act by the police," Roy said.
The police "forcibly" took Chowdhury to the police station lockup from the hospital when his bail plea was being heard at the High Court of Tripura.
"Law will take its own course. But picking up a patient from the hospital bed and taking him to a lockup is not acceptable. We condemn it as an act of intolerance," state Congress acting president Pijush Biswas said.
Chowdhury fell ill during interrogation in the lock up and was taken to the G B Pant Hospital where he undergoing treatment now.
Meanwhile, Justice Arindam Lodh of the High Court of Tripura rejected the bail plea of Chowdhury.
State Advocate General Arun Kanti Bhowmik said, "This order justify our stand."
Chowdhury's counsel Arindam Bhattacharya refused to comment on the judgment as he is yet to obtain a copy of it.
The PWD scam took place as the former PWD minister flouted a number of rules in constructing 28 buildings, 46 bridges and 60 roads in 2008-09, state Law Minister Ratan Lal Nath had alleged.
The CPI(M) Politburo last week claimed that Chowdhury was apprehended on false charges and said the party would fight the case against him both legally and politically.
Former PWD engineer-in-chief Sunil Bhowmik was taken into custody while an arrest warrant was issued against former chief secretary Yashpal Singh in connection with the scam.
An FIR was lodged by the Crime Investigation Department with the West Agartala police station on October 13 in which the agency accused Chowdhury, Bhowmik and Singh of being involved in a financial scam of over Rs 600 crore in PWD projects between 2008 and 2009.
The three have been charged with fraud, corruption, criminal breach of trust and suppression of evidence.
