After spending almost four months in jail, the court acquitted a BJP leader of South Dinajpur district. He was in prison on rape charges from October last year. On Thursday, the court acquitted the BJP leader due to lack of evidence. 

As per the reports, in October last year,  a minor girl filed a case in the Patiram Police Station against Shantanu Chowdhury. The minor girl alleged that Shantanu Chowdhury raped her. As the girl is from the Janajatiya community, the Police took the matter very seriously and immediately arrested the BJP leader. 

Notably, Shantanu Chowdhury is a resident of Keshavpur Gram Panchayat. He is also a two-time Panchayat member and is very popular in the area. He also won the last year’s Panchayat elections.

Soon, the district unit of the ruling party, TMC, took Shantanu’s arrest as a political weapon to attack the BJP. TMC leaders and workers let out protest rallies in different parts of the district. 

Meanwhile, the court sent the arrested BJP leader into judicial custody and directed the police to submit a chargesheet as soon as possible. 

A few weeks ago, the Police submitted a chargesheet. However, the Police failed to produce a substantial amount of evidence against the accused BJP leader. The judge then gave the order to release the leader, terming the allegations false immediately. Also, the court observed that the Police failed to produce evidence against the allegation. 

After coming out of jail, Shantanu Chowdhury said, “I was framed in a false rape case because of the conspiracy of the TMC. I am a BJP worker and winning member of Panchayat.” 

After his release today, BJP’s district unit felicitated him in the district office.