A BJP leader and 10 of his associates have been arrested on the charge of running a sex racket in a hotel in West Bengal’s Howrah district, according to a police officer on Friday. The local BJP leader has been identified as Sabyasachi Ghosh.
Police said that they were arrested following a police raid at a hotel in Sankrail area on Thursday night, during which several girls and women were rescued from the hotel, which is allegedly owned by Ghosh.
The incident triggered a political row as the Trinamool Congress (TMC) accused the BJP of shielding leaders involved in sex racket, while the saffron camp claimed that the ruling party was trying to deflect attention from the incidents of Sandeshkhali, where women alleged sexual abuse by TMC leaders.
Th cop said that the arrested people had been running the sex racket by bringing in girls and women to the hotel located near National Highway 116.
Ghosh and another accused were remanded to seven days’ police custody.
Attacking the BJP, the TMC said in a post on X, “@BJP4Bengalleader Sabyasachi Ghosh caught running a PROSTITUTION RACKET of MINOR GIRLS in his hotel in Howrah’s Sankrail. The Police arrested 11 accused & rescued 6 victims from the spot. THIS IS BJP. They don’t protect BETIS, they protect PIMPS! (sic)”
TMC state youth wing president Saayoni Ghosh said, “The BJP is working overtime to malign Mamata Banerjee’s image. The same BJP’s Howrah Kisan Morcha Secretary Sabyasachi Ghosh has been arrested from a hotel in Sankrail for running a prostitution racket involving minor girls.”
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and former party president Rahul Sinha claimed that the TMC is trying to divert from the Sandeskhali incident.
He said that if anyone is found guilty, the law will take its own course and the party will not shield them “unlike the TMC”.
(With PTI inputs)