Kolkata law student rape: Photos of main accused with top Trinamool leaders seen on social media (4th Ld)

Kolkata, June 27 (IANS) The pictures of Monojit Mishra, one of the three accused in connection with the rape of a law student within the college premises, along with top Trinamool Congress leaders, have started circulating on the social media, with the state BJP leaders sharing them as much as possible.

Among the Trinamool Congress leaders with whom Mishra had been seen in the pictures includes the party's General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee, West Bengal Minister of State for Finance (independent charge) Chandrima Bhattacharya and the Trinamool Congress Councillor in Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Kajari Banerjee, who is the sister-in-law of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Amit Malviya, BJP's IT Cell Chief and the party's central observers for West Bengal, and the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Assembly Suvendu Adhikari are among the BJP leaders who have shared these pictures on their official X accounts and attacked the Trinamool Congress on this issue.

"OUTRAGEOUS! Manojit Mishra, one of the prime accused in the brutal gang-rape of a college student in Kasba has direct links with the most powerful in the Trinamool Congress. Shocking reports suggest that college authorities were instructed to lock the gates while the crime was taking place! Who gave Manojit this impunity? Who shielded him? This is not just a crime. This is a cover-up of the highest order. TMC is a party of rapists and protectors of rapists," Malviya said in his statement, while attaching the pictures of the accused with the Trinamool Congress leaders.

LoP Adhikari also posted the picture of Mishra with TMC's Abhishek Banerjee, saying: "The empire of crime wasn't established just like that; it has grown and swelled in the company of various miscreants!!!"

State Trinamool Congress General Secretary Kunal Ghosh had claimed that the picture of Mishra proves nothing since there had been instances in the past where top BJP leaders, including the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Home Minister Amit Shah, were seen in photos with party leaders who were accused of rape in the future.

"This happens with people who are public figures. If Trinamool Congress has to explain these pictures now, then BJP should also give explanations on similar instances," Ghosh said.

Meanwhile, the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police of Jadavpur Division, under Kolkata Police, under whose jurisdiction the law college at Kasba in south Kolkata comes, issued a statement on Friday evening cautioning the people to refrain from sharing unverified and misleading information on the social media concerning the incident.

--IANS

src/khz