Bengal: Fresh Complaint Filed Against Abhishek Banerjee Over COVID-19 Camp Irregularities
Kolkata: A fresh police complaint was registered on Monday against Trinamool Congress general secretary and Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee at Bishnupur Police Station in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.
The complaint accused massive irregularities in a “Mega COVID-19 Testing Drive” camp organised by Banerjee within his Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency in January 2022.
In the written complaint filed at Bishnupur Police Station, local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Avijit Das, also known as Bobby, alleged unlawful use of state government equipment for the COVID-19 testing camp.
Das requested the police to start a separate investigation by registering an FIR against Banerjee, who is also the nephew of former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
As per the complaint, a total of 53,203 samples were tested in a single day across 260 testing centres, 23 mobile units, and 30 kiosks in Diamond Harbour. At that time, the average daily sample testing in the entire state was between 70,000, Das claimed.
The BJP leader argued that this statistic needed to be investigated and requested the police to examine the documents related to these tests. “It should be investigated whether the 53,203 diagnostic kits used were procured in accordance with statutory rules or not,” Das added.
Das named Banerjee as the main accused in the police complaint. He demanded an investigation into the role of 26 others, including the then District Magistrate of South 24 Parganas and the then Superintendent of Police of Diamond Harbour Police District.
There have already been allegations of severe irregularities relating to the free Sebashray health camps organised by Banerjee in his Diamond Harbour constituency during the previous Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool regime.
The Health Department and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal Police are conducting simultaneous probes into the allegations against the Sebashray health camps.
In the meantime, allegations have also been raised regarding the COVID-19 testing camp in his Parliamentary constituency.
(IANS)
