CALCUTTA, 12 May 2004 — The criminal case filed by the Election Commission against the ruling Left Front’s chairman, Biman Bose, made no headway yesterday as senior police officers passed the buck.
Opposition parties, however, demanded Bose’s immediate arrest as he has been charged with offenses that are punishable by imprisonment up to five years.
On Monday, the commission lodged a report against Bose for inciting Marxist cadres to assault poll observers and scuttle the May 10 elections in Calcutta and elsewhere in Left Front-ruled West Bengal.
The report was lodged in the city’s Taltalla police station — not far away from the Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s Alimuddin Street party headquarters where Bose accused poll observers on Sunday of overstepping their limits and exhorted party cadres to “grab them by the collar and drag them to the nearest police station”.
Evading questions about the possibility of Bose’s arrest, police Deputy Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said: “Arrest is not mandatory. It’s the discretion of the investigating officer.”
Police chief Sujoy Chakraborty sparked off another controversy yesterday by appointing sub-inspector Buddhadeb Mukherjee, close to Bose, to probe the case.
Bose refused comment. “I will not discuss the matter as it’s a legal issue now.”
