Tripura Congress leader slams police for summoning him in CM’s defamation case

Agartala, July 2 (PTI): Senior Congress leader Subal Bhowmik on Tuesday slammed the Tripura Police for summoning him in connection with a defamation case filed by Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and wife Niti.
Addressing a press meet here, he insisted that he had nothing to do with the case and that the police were harassing him for no proper reason.
The police had last month arrested Facebook user Anupam Paul from Delhi and charged him with forgery, defamation and criminal conspiracy for allegedly posting derogatory content about the chief minister’s personal life.

He was presented before a local court here, which remanded him in police custody for three days.
Paul, who was earlier associated with the IT cell of the BJP, is currently out on bail.

Investigating Officer Dipankar Paul has since June 27 issued three notices to Bhowmik, who switched to the Congress from the BJP weeks before the Lok Sabha elections, asking him to be appear for questioning at the office of superintendent of police (cyber crime) in connection with the case.

“There are reasonable grounds to question you to ascertain facts and circumstances…” the notice read.
Bhowmik, however, refused to record his statement at any office and requested the police to visit him at his residence for questioning.

“They have summoned me for questioning. Am I an absconder? If they want to question me, they can come to my house. They (police) are harassing people,” he said.

The senior leader asserted that he didn’t know anything about Paul’s whereabouts.
“Earlier, they questioned many people, but did not arrest a single man. My summonses were leaked in the press.

It is an attempt to tarnish my image,” the Congress leader told the press meet here.
Officiating Director General Rajiv Singh later told reporters that the police can’t be visiting every single house for interrogation.

“Three notices have been issued to Bhowmik asking him to appear before the investigating officer. If Bhowmick did not cooperate, police might have to seek a legal recourse. We can’t go to every single person’s house,” Singh said.