Police in Hooghly district arrested four people, including the owner, secretary, and two staff members of a private home in Nabagram, on charges of physically abusing a 26-year-old woman resident.
The woman lodged a complaint with the Serampore Women’s Police Station on Thursday, police officials said. Acting swiftly, investigators arrested the four accused on Friday. One of them has been remanded to three days of police custody by a Serampore court, while the others have been sent to 14 days of judicial custody.
Among those arrested is the home’s secretary, Ajay Chattopadhyay, a former Trinamool Congress (TMC) member of the Nabagram panchayat. Police sources said Chattopadhyay wields influence locally through his connections in various institutions.
Trinamool leaders moved quickly to distance the party from the controversy. Apurba Majumdar, the party’s Nabagram area president, said: “The victim is a bright young woman preparing for a government job. She had earlier brought complaints against the home to our office, and we advised her to go to the police. Ajay is no longer with TMC, though he still has influence. Whoever is guilty will face punishment.”
Opposition leaders, however, seized the opportunity to attack the ruling party. CPI(M) leader Ashish Dey alleged: “TMC is now trying to wash its hands of responsibility. Ajay contested the Nabagram Cooperative Bank election as a TMC candidate and served earlier as a director on its board. He has long been an active TMC worker. The party cannot escape accountability.”
BJP leaders also weighed in. Rajesh Rajak, BJP’s Nabagram mandal president, said: “We know Ajay well; he has multiple faces. He has been part of TMC, so naturally he had close ties with the panchayat. If the allegations are true, police must act strictly.”
Some staff members of the home defended its owner, claiming they had never witnessed Ajay behave inappropriately.
The case comes amid a spate of controversies involving private homes and rehabilitation centers in Uttarpara. On Friday, the head of a de-addiction center was bludgeoned to death by two residents. Months earlier, another resident died under suspicious circumstances at a separate facility.
Repeated allegations have sparked fresh scrutiny of private institutions in the district.
