Mafias get a free run in West Bengal Administration

LiLo’s ‘friend’ loses land to mafia

TIMES NEWS NETWORK   24.10.2011

Indrani Pal Chaudhuri (right) during a photoshoot with singer and Hollywood actress Lindsay Lohan

Kolkata: US-based photographer Indrani Pal Chaudhuri had been in news some time back for her ‘friendship’ with Hollywood star Lindsay Lohan. Indrani is again in the news. This time, local promoters have allegedly taken over her ancestral land in Ranaghat. 
    The promoters are being apparently aided by a Trinamool Congress councillor who claimed to have purchased the plot. Though Indrani alleged that promoter’s men brought down portions of a boundary wall around the campus in which her father Ajay Pal Chaudhuri runs a charitable school, no complaint has yet been filed with the police. A complaint was, however, filed with the local municipality. 
    “For 17 years, Ramakrishna Vedanta Society Vidyapith/ Shakti Empowerment Education Foundation and Satish Palchowdhury Trust have provided free education to 300 children and women. They run literacy, vocational classes, a library and a clinic for the poor. The school has featured in numerous articles and on the American TV documentary series “Double Exposure”. Recently, 10-feet high walls and gates of the school have been broke down by a land mafia. He has been aided by two local leaders of Trinamool Congress. We have court injunctions against these criminal acts, but there has been no police response,” said Indrani, who has appeared in “Larry King Live” and has done shoots with leading Hollywood personalities like Lady Gaga, Naomi Campbell, Beyonce Knowles, David Bowie, Kate Winslet, Keanu Reeves, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, Anne Hathaway and Will Smith. 
    The school grounds at Ranaghat’s Ghatakpara have been taken over by the goons, she alleged. The news, she added, has gained worldwide supporters who are raising an outcry about the attack. “I am afraid for the children, afraid for my almost 80-year-old father and afraid for West Bengal. Will local politicians follow the example of their illustrious leader to protect the rights of poor women and children? Will they follow the law and enforce the rulings of the courts against these illegal activities by promoters? Will they allow poor women and children to receive free education? Or will greed trump all, even in Mamata Banerjee’s “New Bengal”?” she quipped. 
    Local police, however, denied that a complaint has been lodged. “We have not received any formal complaint yet,” said an officer. According to Ranaghat municipality chairman and Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjee, a Trinamool councillor had paid an advance for the property to owner Madan Gopal Pramanik, a member of the Pal Chaudhuri family. “There is a dispute over the sale and the owner has lodged a complaint with the municipality. We had a meeting with Pramanik and the councillor. But nobody has forcibly taken over the property,” said Chatterjee. 
    Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP and quizmaster Derek O' Brien, through a message on Twitter, said the government has zero tolerance for goons. “Administration and the police have free hand to take action,” he said.