BJP activist Mampi Das (aka Piyali), who has been accused of scripting fake rape complaints in Sandeshkhali, was sent to judicial custody by a court in Basirhat on Tuesday when she appeared before the additional chief judicial magistrate to file a petition seeking anticipatory bail for complaints lodged against her by an elderly woman.

After additional chief judicial magistrate Indranil Karmakar rejected her bail petition, she surrendered before the court that ordered seven days’ judicial custody.

On May 6, an elderly woman lodged a complaint against Mampi for alleged assault and intimidation after she lodged an appeal to withdraw a rape complaint, which she claimed never occurred and was scripted by the BJP activist. The woman accused Mampi of making her sign on a blank paper on which she allegedly scripted the purported rape complaint and submitted it to the police.

On May 5, the woman, while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an election meeting of the Trinamool Congress in Sandeshkhali, claimed that she was compelled to put her signature on the blank paper in front of the members of the National Women’s Commission as per the direction of Mampi and other BJP leaders

The woman told reporters that she came to know about the “rape complaint” only after a few days when police came to her house for investigation and to take her to court to record a statement before a magistrate.

On May 6 morning, Mampi came to her residence and threatened her with dire consequences, which prompted her to lodge a police complaint against her on the same day.

“Piyali has been threatening us with dire consequences ever since we decided to speak the truth,” the woman said.

Based on the complaint, the police summoned Mampi to appear before the sleuths but she did not respond to the notice. Instead on Tuesday, she appeared before the ACJM’s court in Barasat for anticipatory bail. Then, the bail prayer was rejected and Mampi was remanded in custody.

Mampi, however, rejected the allegations claiming innocence. “It is a conspiracy by Didi (chief minister Mamata Banerjee) as she fears the Sandeshkhali agitation. I was not aware of the complaint against me…I have done nothing wrong and always fought for truth. I have never forced anyone to lodge fake complaints. There is no such proof... It is actually a conspiracy hatched by Didi and what some women are now claiming are actually fake.”