'Absconder' Bharati Ghosh turns up in Delhi to join BJP

Kolkata: Former IPS officer Bharati Ghosh joined BJP on Monday in presence of Union Home minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Mukul Roy and Kailash Vijayvargiya.

During August last year, Ghosh had claimed through an audio message that soon she will join politics but did not disclose the name. But based on the situation, it was assumed that she will join BJP which happened on Monday.

Though Ghosh has been shown as 'absconding', she went to the headquarters of BJP in Delhi to join the party. After her formal joining, Ghosh was asked whether she is going to contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha election or not.

Replying to the question, Ghosh said: "I did not join the party thinking like that. It is totally the party's discretion. I came here to work with the people, which is what I have done till date."

Ghosh was the Superintendent of Police (SP) of West Midnapore for almost six years. She was subsequently transferred to the post of commandant of the 3rd battalion of the West Bengal State Armed Police during December in 2017.

Following the transfer order, Ghosh submitted her resignation from the post of commandant of 3rd battalion within a few days. Her resignation was accepted by the state government on January 2 last year.

Following this, CID raided her Kolkata residence in connection with an extortion case lodged by a businessman at Daspur police station in West Midnapore. Later, Ghosh's husband MAV Raju was arrested. A few months ago, CID arrested one Sujit Mondal from Delhi who used to be a constable of state police and was engaged as the security personnel of Ghosh during her tenure as SP.

She was transferred twice between 2011 and 2018. At first, she was removed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) before the 2014 Lok Sabha Election. Later, she had to be removed from the post of SP, West Midnapore, before the 2016 Assembly Election, as she was once removed by the ECI. But after the election was over, she was again posted as the SP of West Midnapore.

Ghosh was posted at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) during 2011, when Trinamool Congress defeated the Left Front in the Assembly Election.

After the new government took over the charge of the state led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, she was posted as the SP of West Midnapore. At that time, the district was Maoist infested and she was given the charge of neutralising Maoist activity there.

After Maoist leader Koteswar Rao, popularly known as Kishenji, was killed in an encounter, Ghosh had lured away several Maoist leaders and members from their activities against the state government, with assurance of a normal life.