Leaked WhatsApp chat links ISF leader Naushad with BJP MLA

A WhatsApp chat of Indian Secular Front (ISF) MLA Naushad Siddiqui, has gone viral after getting arrested for attacking the Trinamool Congress office and the police in Kolkata. In this, he was talking to Manoj Tigga, BJP MLA and chief whip of the party in the Bidhansabha, in a message. It mentions transactions of money and many other things on the basis of which he is being accused of involvement in hawala business.

 BJP has also accepted the link between Manoj Tigga and Naushad Siddiqui. Senior BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition Shubhendu Adhikari said that there is nothing wrong for a BJP leader talking to a leader of any other party. However, he has denied any illegal dealings or conspiracy.

In this regard, Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal, who reached a program at Alipore Bodyguard Lane a day ago, said that the investigation is being done on the basis of the important information received. According to sources in Lalbazar, before the 2021 assembly elections, ISF leader Naushad Siddiqui held talks with several leaders including a top BJP leader. There are also indications that Naushad was asked by a top BJP leader to lodge a complaint at the Election Commission against some state officials involved in the polling process before the elections. On the basis of that complaint, the BJP leaders had promised that they would go to Delhi and present the matter and the office bearers working for the Trinamool Congress would be removed before the elections through the Election Commission.

A Lalbazar official said that they have found evidence that Naushad has chatted with leaders of several political parties on WhatsApp. Suspicious talks have also taken place with BJP central leaders who were in charge of the state before the assembly elections. The said officer was referring to senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya.

Before the elections, the undercover police found evidence of transactions of huge amounts of money in the accounts of Naushad and other ISF leaders through hawala. An investigation has started as to who sent this money from abroad. Even the intelligence team of Kolkata Police is probing whether it is related to BJP leaders or not.