Bengal BJP's youth wing leader Pamela Goswami's father had alerted Kolkata police last year about his daughter's suspected drug addiction after she allegedly got involved in a relationship with another BJP leader, who is married.
Kolkata Police on Friday arrested Goswami, a secretary of the BJP Yuva Morcha's Bengal unit, along with another youth wing leader Prabir Kumar Dey. They were allegedly found to be in possession of cocaine to the market value of Rs 10 lakh.
When the police were taking them away in the prison van, Goswami was seen shouting that she had been framed. From the prison van, she chanted Bharat Mata Ki Jai a number of times.
According to sources in Kolkata Police, Goswami's father had lodged a complaint with them last year, informing them that Dey, who has a wife and a daughter, has Pamela Goswami in an extra-marital affair with him and induced her to drugs.
"In the police complaint, Goswami's father had said that Dey was keeping his daughter addicted to drugs to continue his extramarital affairs with her. He has tried to intervene but in vain. So, he finally approached the police to rescue his daughter from the trap of drug and the extramarital affair," said a senior officer of Kolkata Police who did not want to be identified.
The arrest was made from the posh New Alipore area in south Kolkata.
Police said they kept a tab on her after getting alerted by the father's letter. However, the letter did not mention the nature of the drug that she might be using. Therefore, the police took time to find out what was actually going on.
"It was only after getting specific information that our men waited for Goswami and Dey at the spot where they used to peddle packets of cocaine to local sellers and users," said a Kolkata Police officer.
The BJP's state unit spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said they would not still rule out the possibility of Goswami having been framed.
The Trinamool Congress has taken sharp digs at the BJP following this arrest. "Earlier, one of their women leaders was arrested in connection with child trafficking. Now, here are drug peddlers. We can all see what the BJP leadership is made of," said Bengal minister Chandrima Bhattacharya.
