Former IPS officer Debashis Dhar, who tendered his resignation from service citing "personal reasons" and a desire to pursue "social goals," has been included in the BJP's latest roster of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal.
Dhar, who officially resigned on March 20, is slated to contest from the Birbhum constituency, which is scheduled to vote in the fourth phase on May 13.
In a recent interview, Dhar expressed his intention to enter politics with the aim of "reforming the system."
“I wanted to do something for the people that’s why I became an IPS officer. After 2021, I could not work and was humiliated. My house also was raided by West Bengal Police. I wanted to do something so that this system gets cleared,” Dhar said.
Lamenting the ordeals he faced, Dhar maintained, "Initially during the interrogation, I felt too bad about my situation, however, I forgot that feeling after a while."
I have not been in contact with my young daughter and my mother for the past three years. I was deeply jolted by my mother's words, a retired government official, who had never seen such things. She told me not to see her and visit our house. Let me die in peace, she had said," Dhar mourned.
Dhar, the former superintendent of police of Coochbehar, was suspended after the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections during which four people were killed in Sitalkuchi in the district in alleged firing by central forces.
The BJP, however, says Dhar’s suspension was a political vendetta by the TMC as he presented the “actual report” of the firing incident.
He was also raided by the West Bengal CID in September 2022 in connection with a disproportionate assets case.
Five properties, including the residence of Dhar and businessman Sudipto Roychowdhury, in Salt Lake, Metropolitan Society and Jodhpur Park were raided back then.
Sources in the CID said that Dhar’s possessions increased at an “exorbitant rate” from 2015 to 2018.
Dhar had claimed that he had never made any financial transaction with Roychowdhury and had said he would fully cooperate with the investigation.
Dhar asserted that he had never engaged in any financial transactions with Roychowdhury and pledged full cooperation with the ongoing investigation.
Set to contest against TMC stalwart Anubrata Mondal in Birbhum, Dhar, who also served with the CBI from 2011 to 2013, finds himself in a high-stakes electoral battle.
While BJP insiders express confidence in his candidacy, TMC sources speculated on his potential allegiance to the saffron party.
With key issues such as deteriorating law and order, corruption, atrocities against women, and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at the forefront, the BJP eyes an opportunity to not only replicate its 2019 performance of securing 18 seats but also bolster its tally ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls, where it will directly confront the TMC.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the TMC emerged victorious with 22 seats, while the Congress secured two seats, and the BJP clinched 18 out of the total 42 seats in the state.
The Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal are scheduled to take place in seven phases between April 19 and June 1, with the vote count slated for June 4.
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