BJP candidate Bharati Ghosh threatens Trinamool supporters, says will ‘kill them like dog’

Former IPS officer and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha candidate Bharati Ghosh has sparked a controversy with her alleged remarks that she would get Trinamool workers ‘beaten like dogs’ if they won’t allow proper conduct votes.

Ghosh, who was once considered close to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, said this while campaigning at Ghatal constituency.   

"Get inside your houses and do not try to show your smartness here. There will be no place to hide. I will drag you out of your house and kill you like a dog.... I will bring over 1,000 men from UP, put them inside your residence and teach you a lesson," the BJP nominee said while campaigning in his constituency.

Mamata Banerjee hit back at Gosh saying ‘don’t make me open my mouth.’

"Do not make me open my mouth. If I make public the SMSs that you had sent to me as a police officer, I won't have to say anything more against you. You must remember, there are so many cases against you. Had we wished to keep you behind bars, we could have arrested you. There is Supreme Court bar on arresting you only in one case," said Banerjee while campaigning for Trinamool candidate and Bengali film star Dev Adhikari.

Meanwhile, senior Trinamool leader Partha Chatterjee said in Kolkata that the party will move the Election Commission to complaint against Ghosh, who was once the superintendent of police in West Midnapore district in which Ghatal falls, for this comment.

The Election Commission sought a report from the district administration after taking suo motu cognizance of the incident, officials said in Kolkata.

Ghosh joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the month of February and was later fielded from Ghatal parliamentary seat, which will go to polls on May 12.

She was the West Midnapore SP for more than six years. The officer was transferred as commandant of the third battalion of the state armed police, considered a less important post, on December 26, 2017 and she resigned from service two days later.

Winner of a service medal on August 15, 2014, Ghosh was transferred by the Election Commission before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. She was, however, reinstated as West Midnapore SP as soon as the elections got over.

An arrest warrant was issued against Ghosh in February, 2018 in connection with an extortion case registered at Daspur police station in West Midnapore district, following her resignation.

With PTI Inputs