Bengal Governor in touch with those involved in criminal activities, alleges Trinamool MP, seeks removal

Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee on Thursday alleged that West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar is in touch with those involved in criminal activities and said he was trying to prevent Kolkata Police authorities from carrying out their work through his tweets.

Banerjee sought the removal of the Bengal governor by the President of India, and said the Kolkata Police and Bidhannagar Commissionerate could take action against himunder Section 186 and 189 of the Indian Penal Code, for trying to prevent them from doing their work. Under the said legal provisions, action can be taken against those “obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions” and “threat of injury to public servant”. The Trinamool Congress MP said that Dhankhar was using his position to threaten the police officers and trying to influence the probe.

At a press conference, Kalyan Banerjee further said that Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar does not have the right to remain governor any more and said he was drawing attention of the President of India to the matter through the media. According to Banerjee, the police in West Bengal had made the arrest (which Dhankhar had apparently referred to in his tweet) following a complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate, a Central government agency. Police had recently arrested Govind Agarwal, early on Sunday in connection with a corruption case against an income tax officer. The police had issued summons to a senior IRS officer based in the city in connection with the case in which IRS officer Neeraj Singh is an accused and Agarwal a co-accused.

The Governor had apparently referred to this arrest in his tweet and expressed anguish stating that it was “politically inspired” and done “overzealously”. Mentioning this during Thursday’s press conference, Banerjee said that the Governor is in contact with those involved in anti-social work, and action can be taken against him for trying to prevent the government officers from carrying out their work. He also threatened to disclose more about the Governor in subsequent press conferences.

[No reaction to Banerjee’s allegations were available so far from Raj Bhawan. We will update this story when there are reactions.]