Before leaving the city, Bose had said in an audio statement that he smelt a “sinister plot” and that no one would be able to deter him from his “determined efforts to expose corruption and curb violence”
Kinsuk Basu, TT, Calcutta, 05.05.24 : The special enquiry team probing allegations of “physical advances” against governor C.V. Ananda Bose, as levelled by a contractual Raj Bhavan employee, has sought CCTV footage from the governor’s office.
A letter sent late on Friday night requested footage related to some of the places the young woman has mentioned in her complaint. The letter set no timeframe.
A city police officer quoted the letter as saying that the footage was required in connection with a complaint the police had received against the governor.
Among the places identified in the letter are the governor’s office and a conference room where Bose has been accused of trying to lure the complainant with the offer of a promotion, a senior police officer said.
“The footage is part of a basic enquiry about what the woman has alleged,” he added.
“Over the next few days, we will speak to some Raj Bhavan staff members as part of our preliminary enquiry into the allegations. If the CCTV footage is not made available, we will mention that in our report.”
The officer in charge of the police’s Raj Bhavan outpost handed the letter to a senior official from the governor’s secretariat, the police said.
“Since there is no specific timeframe for the enquiry, the letter sent to the Raj Bhavan doesn’t specify the time within which the footage would have to be submitted,” a senior police officer said. “We will wait a few days.”
Senior police officers did not want to comment whether they would visit the Raj Bhavan to question the staff or send summons asking them to face the enquiry team.
After the woman lodged her complaint with Hare Street police station on Thursday evening, the police made a general diary entry (GDE) and formed an eight-member special enquiry team headed by deputy police commissioner (central) Indira Mukherjee.
Bose left for Kochi on Friday. On Saturday, this newspaper tried to contact the governor over his phone several times but he remained “unreachable”.
A message to the governor has gone unanswered so far. Calls to Bose’s officer-on-special-duty at the Raj Bhavan have not elicited any response.
Before leaving the city, Bose had said in an audio statement that he smelt a “sinister plot” and that no one would be able to deter him from his “determined efforts to expose corruption and curb violence”.
On Saturday, Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee asked why the governor had left the city if he had nothing to hide.
“I feel ashamed to talk about this. Two days ago, Bengal’s governor sexually assaulted a contractual staff who is his daughter’s age,” Abhishek alleged at a news conference.
“The next day, he left the city. If you have nothing to hide, then cooperate with the investigation. Why are you running away?”
The woman has accused Bose of making an indecent proposal to her and touching her inappropriately.
She has mentioned two alleged incidents, the first purportedly taking place at Bose’s office at the Raj Bhavan around 12.45pm on April 24. The complainant has said she managed to get out of the room.
The second alleged incident happened on May2, this time in the conference room, the woman has said.
According to Article 361 of the Constitution, no criminal proceedings can be conducted against the President or a governor during their term in office.
If a complaint is lodged against a governor, the police can submit a preliminary report to the state government, which can forward it to the President, the appointing authority of governors.
