Sex racket busted in night lodge owned by BJP leader

Kolkata: A sex racket was busted on Wednesday night at a lodge in Kharagpur in West Midnapore which is reportedly owned by a BJP leader Bimal Das alias Tinku.

Police have rescued three women and arrested a staff member of the hotel. Sources said, acting on a tip off, cops of Kharagpur local police station conducted a raid led by a senior police officer at the said lodge on Wednesday night. During the raid, police found three women who were allegedly kept confined at the hotel. The women were rescued and a staff member of the hotel was arrested.

After the incident came to light, a massive controversy cropped up as the said BJP leader who is also a Panchayat Pradhan is close to the Leader of Opposition (LoP) Suvendu Adhikari. Over this, Trinamool Congress (TMC) criticised BJP for the involvement of one of their leaders in such an illegal trade. On Thursday Trinamool Congress posted on its X handle: “The appalling nexus of human trafficking under the watch of Suvendu WB has been exposed! Reports indicate that BJP4Bengal leader Bimal Das coerced women in Kharagpur into prostitution, robbing them of their dignity and basic human rights.

Is this the reality behind BJP’s claims of ensuring women’s safety? We strongly condemn the hypocrisy of BJP leaders who campaign for “Nari Suraksha” on television but reportedly contribute to the exploitation of women behind closed doors!” It was also learnt that police have registered an FIR into the matter against Das and others under sections of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act and started a probe. Das, however, claimed that he gave the lodge on rent to someone else and doesn’t know anything about the operations of the lodge. Several pictures of Das with multiple BJP leaders like Agnimitra Paul, Dilip Ghosh and actor turned politician Hiran came to surface.