Noida & Bengal cops trade charges in arrest row over Mahua Moitra ‘fake chats’

Kolkata/Noida: Police in West Bengal alleged on Wednesday a man they had detained in Noida for posting on social media fake chats attributed to Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra had escaped due to political interference at the local police station. Noida police denied the charge, saying the accused – who runs a news portal – was not found at his house in Lotus Panache when a joint Bengal and UP police team went there on Tuesday night, so the question of him escaping detention did not arise.The police team from Krishnanagar in Bengal, the constituency Moitra represents in Lok Sabha, said it was following up on a Feb 6 FIR in which the MP had accused multiple social media users of posting malicious chats featuring her and political strategist Prashant Kishor.
On Feb 7, it asked microblogging platform X to take down the posts and issued notices to some of the accused, among them the Noida-based news portal owner. A four-member team from Krishnanagar Kotwali landed up in Noida with an arrest warrant from a court in Bengal's Nadia after he failed to respond to the notice.In a statement on X, West Bengal Police said, "Our team, with full cooperation of UP Police, executed the warrant and detained the accused on Feb 10. Thereafter, following external communications by certain political functionaries, the team was taken to the local police station and lawful proceedings were interrupted, enabling the accused to abscond. Efforts to apprehend him continue." "Preliminary digital forensic examination by the cyber cell conclusively established that the circulated ‘chat screenshots' are forged and fabricated. Evidence indicates a larger conspiracy behind their creation and dissemination," it addedKotwali OC Amalendu Biswas alleged the accused had name-dropped several politicians while in detention.DCP (central Noida) Shakti Mohan Avasthy termed allegations of obstruction as baseless and unfounded." Police sources in Noida told TOI the Krishnanagar police team had visited Phase 2 police station in Noida and intimated it about their purpose. "Local police personnel, including the in-charge of Sector 110 police outpost, were deputed to assist them at Lotus Panache. At his house, his wife opened the door. CCTV footage from cameras installed in the society premises can confirm that he was never taken into custody. The accused was not home. Bengal police personnel searched the place," a Noida police source said. The source said the Phase 2 police station SHO had also reached the society while the search was on at the Tower 12 flat. "The teams continued their efforts to find him for several hours, making inquiries with residents, but failed to trace his whereabouts," the source said. A Noida police officer involved in the search told TOI the Krishnanagar police team had called the accused's number, but his phone was switched off. "The conversation between the accused's wife and the Bengal police personnel happened in Bengali. What we could make out was that she told them he had gone out for work. The society guards did stop the Bengal police team initially, but when we intervened, they allowed them to proceed," the officer said. On social media, meanwhile, the contrasting takes from police in Trinamool-governed Bengal and BJP-governed UP generated more heat. BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya accused the Bengal cops of overreach. "West Bengal Police, fully aware that the person resides outside their jurisdiction, issued a notice demanding appearance within 24 hours, without providing even basic time to make travel arrangements. This was swiftly followed by a hurried move to obtain a warrant, demonstrating a ‘lightning speed' conspicuously absent in far graver crimes," Malviya posted on X.He asked, "Why is the state police machinery being weaponised against those who merely amplify what is already circulating in the public domain? Why target individuals who are, in effect, only sharing what others are discussing?"Moitra, meanwhile, posted: "Even forensic lab reports show the chat was forged and fake. Not just defamation but criminal acts of forgery and circulating fake content. All will face the full extent of the law."