Lucky catch
Sir — It is natural to be jubilant when an opponent scores a goal for your team. Arthur Brand, an investigator of art-related crimes, had a similar stroke of good fortune recently. A stash of six historically valuable paintings that had been stolen from a small town in the Netherlands was recently dropped off at his apartment by a stranger asking for help unloading some merchandise while Brand was watching a football match. While it may seem like Christmas came early for Brand, perhaps it is the person returning the paintings who should be in Santa’s good books. When stolen paintings become too difficult to sell in the black market, they are usually destroyed. The person who chose to risk exposing himself by returning the stolen treasures thus deserves a reward.
Soham Talukdar, Calcutta
Knock on the door
Sir — The Enforcement Directorate has summoned the chief minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, to record his statement on the alleged irregularities in Delhi’s withdrawn excise policy. This follows his interrogation in April by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Kejriwal had claimed that the entire case against Aam Aadmi Party leaders was fabricated and that he would be vindicated once the probe was complete. After the arrests of prominent AAP leaders like Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain in this case, it is Kejriwal’s turn to face the music. If he is proven guilty, it would validate the adage that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
C.K.R. Nathan, Ghaziabad
Sir — It is an open secret that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre has used investigative agencies like the CBI and the ED to target its political opponents. Now that the saffron party seems to be on the back foot in states like Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram that go to polls soon, it has upped the ante against leaders of the INDIA bloc.
Manish Sisodia, the former deputy chief minister of Delhi, is already in jail. Arvind Kejriwal has now been summoned by the ED. It seems that anyone who questions the actions of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, or the Union home minister, Amit Shah, shall have to face the wrath of the investigative agencies controlled by the Centre.
A.K. Chakraborty, Guwahati
Sir — The Supreme Court’s rejection of the bail plea by Manish Sisodia is surprising. It goes against earlier judgments passed by the same court that have repeatedly underlined that bail is the norm and jail the exception. Having been incarcerated since February, Sisodia could not have tampered with any evidence nor could he have influenced any witness. Further, no incriminating evidence was found in any of the premises linked to the jailed AAP leader. The only proof against Sisodia is a ‘tentative’ money trail of allegedly illegal profits of Rs 338 crore earned by the wholesale distributors with the aid of the scrapped liquor policy. Rejection of his bail plea is thus a miscarriage of justice.
S.K. Choudhury, Bengaluru
Sir — The summons issued to Arvind Kejriwal hours after Manish Sisodia’s bail plea was turned down in court is a major blow for the AAP. The timing of the order is significant. The AAP is one of the prominent members of the Opposition alliance. With Lok Sabha elections looming on the horizon, the BJP will now try to disrupt this alliance frequently. The Rashtriya Janata Dal leader, Lalu Prasad, and the Trinamul Congress leader, Abhishek Banerjee, are also being similarly harassed by investigative agencies. It is time for the Opposition leaders to unite and counter such attacks by the Centre in an organised fashion.
Khokan Das, Calcutta
Sir — Since the apex court has denied Manish Sisodia’s bail application, it can be assumed that the allegation that he has benefitted financially from the now-scrapped liquor policy of Delhi has some substance. The prosecution has assured a speedy trial and the court has directed Sisodia to apply for bail if the trial is not wrapped up in six to eight months. Instead of crying foul, AAP leaders should wait for the court’s final verdict.
K.V. Seetharamaiah, Bengaluru
Hefty price
Sir — The West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation has been ordered to pay Rs 765.68 crore to Tata Motors as compensation for the losses incurred by the company in Singur (“Rs 766 crore Singur award for Tatas”, Oct 31). Any compensation paid by the state government would be at the taxpayers’ expense and, thus, grossly unfair. To make matters worse, the common people of Singur have been deprived of the jobs that the factory would have created. It is time the people of Bengal raise their voices in protest.
Ganesh Sanyal, Nadia
Sir — The amount of money that the WBIDC needs to pay to Tata Motors is over Rs 1,350 crore as of now if one includes yearly interest. This will be a body blow to the state government, which is already cash-strapped — its outstanding debt was Rs 5.86 lakh crore as of February 2023 — and is allegedly unable to pay an appropriate amount of dearness allowance to its employees.
Subhash Das, Calcutta
Green celebration
Sir — The information provided about how green crackers can be identified in the report, “Tell a green cracker from an illegal one” (Oct 31), is significant. Conventional crackers produce loud sounds and cause air pollution. The government has thus banned them and is trying to promote green crackers instead. Consumers should buy eco-friendly firecrackers only from authorised shops and scan the QR codes on
the packets to check for authenticity.
Abhilasha Gupta, Mohali
