According to a senior officer of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), a team of the agency’s officers went to Ganguly’s south Kolkata house to question her over her alleged meeting with arrested former BJP women’s wing general secretary Juhi Chowdhury, an accused in the case. 

The CID had unearthed a child trafficking racket earlier this year in which babies and children were sold, some to foreigners, through questionable adoption deals. “We will question her about her links to Juhi Chowdhury and also we need answers to a few more questions,” the officer said.

Incidentally, the state CID had last week summoned Ganguly along with BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and two other leaders for questioning in the same case. 

New Indian Express reported that Ganguly denied all the charges against her during CBI’s interrogation. The BJP leader had allegedly lobbied with the authorities of Central Adoption Research Authority (CARA) to redirect more monetary aid to prime accused, Chandana Chakraborty’s shelter homes.

The CID had arrested several persons, including the head of a child protection agency in Darjeeling and a member of a child welfare committee on charges of selling babies and children through unauthentic adoption deals.

These arrests were part of a widening probe into the adoption racket at the Bimala Shishu Griho, a children’s home in Jalpaiguri town.

Sacked state BJP women’s wing leader, Juhi Chowdhury, and the chief adoption officer of the children’s home Sonali Mondal, the home chairperson Chandana Chakraborty and her brother Manas Bhowmik were arrested earlier.

They have been charged with selling about 17 children, aged between one and 14 years, to foreigners by entering into shady adoption deals

The CID had unearthed the child trafficking racket during raids at homes and nursing homes in Baduria area of North 24 Parganas district, in Behala in the southern fringes of Kolkata and some other parts of south Bengal in November last year.

Feature image source: PTI