Suspended CPM leader Tanmoy Bhattacharya was summoned to Baranagar police station on Monday in connection with a complaint of outraging the modesty of a woman.

Bhattacharya was examined at the police station for several hours before he was allowed to go.

Amid a raging social medai debate, Bhattacharya appeared to be trying to publicly shame the woman who complained against him, making matters worse.

Hours after being released from the police station, Bhattacharya held a news conference at his Baranagar home and said the weight of the woman who reported against him “looked like she weighs around 40 kilos” while he was “83”.

“The woman who made the complaint looked like she weighs around 40 kilos and
my weight is 83 kilos. Just imagine if a person of 83 kilos sits on a person weighing 40 kilos, will the latter remain physically fit?” Bhattacharya told reporters at his home
in what he thought was his
defence.

Police have moved court seeking permission to record the woman’s statement before a magistrate.

According to the complaint lodged by the woman, the veteran CPM leader and former MLA allegedly sat on her lap when she went to meet him at his house for professional work.

Bhattacharya has refuted the charges.

The police have drawn an FIR against him and the CPM has suspended him.

After walking out of the police station on Monday, Bhattacharya said: “Whatever decision the party has taken is right. But the fact that the news of my suspension was all over social media even before I was suspended, hurt me. I had texted (state party secretary) Mohammad Salim (after seeing posts about the suspension on social media). An hour later, I was informed that I had been suspended. This hurt me. I had expected that the party would at least talk to me once before taking any step.”

He added that he was expecting the internal complaints committee of the CPM would contact him for their
investigation.

Bhattacharya said it was a political conspiracy to malign him. “But if an entire political party is involved or only Kunal Ghosh and Debangshu (Bhattacharya), that I will not be able to tell,” he added.

Kunal Ghosh and Debangshu are Trinamool Congress leaders. There was no immediate reaction from either.

The police said they had started their investigation and may again summon the CPM leader.

An officer of Barrackpore Commissionerate said the police had already moved the court seeking permission to record the statement of the victim before a magistrate.

“Following the law, as the victim is willing to record her statement before the court, we have moved the court to seek permission for the procedure,” said the officer.

The statement of the victim, if recorded before the magistrate, carries the weight of “primary evidence,” said the officer.

The woman on Sunday alleged that the CPM leader had tried to make approaches towards her several times in the past in the guise of pranks and on Sunday allegedly sat on her lap.

Bhattacharya refuted the charges and hinted that the woman had the option to directly go to the police station straight from his house, but she reportedly did not do so.

He cited this as a “political conspiracy”.