The Trinamool Congress lodges complaint with the EC against Bharatiya Janata Party’s Suvendu Adhikari and others, claiming that a saffron party leader has “confessed” on camera that the rape accusations in the Sandeshkhali incident were concocted, sources said on Thursday.
The TMC will submit a letter to the Election Commission (EC) later in the day, they said.
Party sources said their complaint is based on a purported video in which a man claiming to be Gangadhar Kayal — BJP mandal president in Sandeshkhali — was heard saying that Adhikari, the leader of opposition in the West Bengal assembly, was “behind the whole conspiracy”.
In the “sting operation” video done by a news platform which was later shared by the TMC on X, Kayal is heard saying sexual harassment complaints were filed at the behest of Adhikari.
Earlier, the TMC held a protest march in Sandeshkhali's Trimohini area against the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) alleged conspiracy against women in the area following the release of a sting operation video that claimed that the entire incident was the conspiracy of the saffron party.
West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar, meanwhile, alleged that the “sting operation” was “fake”, and suspected that it was made using artificial intelligence (AI).