Sandeshkhali Row: Woman Withdraws Complaint Against TMC Men, Says BJP Asked Her To Sign Blank Paper

The woman claimed she has not been assaulted and accused local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members of coercing her into signing a blank paper and complaining to the police, The Times of India reported.

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This development comes amid a viral video of a 'sting operation' doing the rounds, showing a man, claiming to be a BJP mandal president in Sandeshkhali, saying the Leader of Opposition in the assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, had asked him and other BJP leaders of the area to "instigate three-four local women to level allegations of rape against three TMC leaders, including Shajahan Sheikh".

Both Adhikari and the BJP have dubbed the video as "fake". TMC has accused BJP of "hatching a conspiracy" to defame the state government.

Sandeshkhali Row | Recap

-Sandeshkhali, a town in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district has been hitting headlines for all the wrong reasons for quite some time now. Scores of women in Sandeshkhali had levelled allegations against now-arrested TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh of land-grabbing and sexual violence.

-TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh was arrested on February 29 in a case pertaining to January 5 mob attack on a team of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The ED team was allegedly attacked when it had gone to search his premises in Sandeshkhali on January 5 in connection with a ration scam probe.

-The attack on the ED team opened a Pandora's box of allegations and several women from Sandeshkhali alleged they were sexually assaulted by Shahjahan Sheikh and other TMC men.

-A recent 'sting operation' turned tables and put BJP on the back foot. A purported video has been doing the rounds in which a man claiming to be Gangadhar Kayal -- BJP mandal president in Sandeshkhali -- can be heard saying that BJP's Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of opposition in the West Bengal assembly - was "behind the whole conspiracy".

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-TMC is now likely to lodge a complaint with the EC against BJP'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 cited in a PTI report said. 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.

West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar, meanwhile, alleged that the "sting operation" was "fake", and suspected that it was made using artificial intelligence (AI).