Kolkata: The Bharatiya Janata Party has accused the West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress of money laundering after the wife of a TMC legislator in Kolkata won a lottery prize of rs 1 crore.
Ruchika Gupta, the wife of TMC MLA from Jorasanko constituency in Kolkata district Vivek Gupta, won the first prize of a weekly lottery amounting to ₹1 crore. The draw for the lottery was held on August 31, according to a newspaper advertisement by the lottery company, ‘Dear Lottery’.
Sharing the lottery advertisement on Twitter, leader of the opposition in the state assembly Suvendu Adhikari alleged that there was “some tangled relation” between the lottery company and the TMC.
He further said that he had sent a letter to Union home minister Amit Shah in November 2021 alleging a nexus between the lottery company and the TMC and demanded an investigation by a central agency.
“The poor people of WB are being lured by the prospect of winning easy money and are become addicted,” he had tweeted. “With easy access, they’re draining their hard earned money on such tickets and corrupt TMC leaders are gaining at their expense.”
In the advertisement, Ruchika had said she would use the money to improve the financial condition of her family. Her legislator husband is a former Rajya Sabha MP of the state’s ruling party.
Her husband said it was “very unfortunate” and “shameful” that an individual was being targeted.
In December 2021, TMC’s Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondol had reportedly won a lottery first prize of ₹1 crore after purchasing a lottery ticket (number 89H54045) for ₹6. Mondol had refused to comment when reporters approached him soon after the news surfaced in January this year.
He is presently in custody after being arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on August 11 in connection with an alleged multi-crore cattle smuggling scam in West Bengal.
Targeting chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, BJP state unit president Sukanta Majumdar said: “The lottery should be named Bhaipo (nephew) lottery. Several people are involved. Once the ED digs in, skeletons would start tumbling out.”
The TMC has hit back, with state minister Firhad Hakim saying: “This (investigation) is neither my job nor the job of Adhikari. Let the income tax agency do their job. He may approach the income tax.”
