Teachers of a school in Kolkata’s Kidderpore have been receiving letters for more than a year now in which they have been accused of being involved in terrorist activities. Since the source of the letters are not known, the school authorities have been compelled to lodge a complaint with the Watgunj police station. What seems like a prank is surely a means of putting the school and its teachers through horror and embarrassment, the teachers have told the media.
Some of the teachers have been accused of being members of the banned terror outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, others have been accused of being recruiters of terrorists and even plotting the assassination of chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
These claims made in letters have been sent to the school with copies sent to the state administration and police officers, resulting in visits by the state’s Special Branch officers to the school for “discussion” with the teachers concerned.
This has not only horrified the school teachers, but also affected the overall atmosphere of the school and its quality of teaching, admitted the teachers when they spoke to several news channels on Tuesday.
Teacher Saikh Mohammed Shalehin has been accused of being involved in anti-national activities, and for being a terrorist attached with a Bangladeshi terror outfit and of recruiting youths from Kolkata’s port area.
Another teacher Rituparna Basu has been accused of being a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh plotting to kill the Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. Teacher Arpana Dutta told the media that a letter she had received accused her of stealing mid-day meal rice and misappropriating school funds. Such baseless allegations have made the teachers distraught.
The police authorities are asking the teachers to report to the local police station from time to time as the investigation is on.
While the headmaster of the school said he had no clue about the allegations levelled, police officers say said some school insider was behind it. Investigation is yet to identify the source of the letters. As this has been going on for a while now, police have decided to take a serious look into the matter.
