Kolkata, July 28 (IANS) The West Bengal government initiated an investigation into the Scheduled Caste (SC) certificate of Trinamool Congress legislator Sangeeta Roy on Tuesday.
Roy is the wife of the erstwhile Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member from Cooch Behar constituency, who is currently a Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) MP.
The Sitai constituency has long been reserved for Scheduled Castes. Basunia was the Trinamool Congress legislator from Sitai before resigning after being elected as a Lok Sabha member in 2024.
Thereafter, his wife, Sangeeta Roy, was elected from Sitai in the by-polls in 2024. She was re-elected from Sitai in the recently concluded West Bengal assembly polls earlier this year.
On Tuesday, a notice was served to Roy by the block development officer (BDO) of Sitai block following instructions from the sub-divisional officer (SDO) for re-verification of her scheduled caste certificate.
During the assembly polls this year, allegations regarding Roy’s caste certificate surfaced. A complaint was also lodged at the office of the sub-divisional officer.
Not getting any substantial result, the complainant, Asutosh Baram, approached the Calcutta High Court. Finally, on Tuesday, the notice was served to Roy asking her to appear at the SDO office for re-verification of her scheduled caste certificate. A copy of the notice is available with IANS.
However, when staff from the BDO office reached Roy’s residence on Tuesday afternoon, she was not present. The staff then pasted the copy of the notice on the wall of her residence.
Roy was not available for comment. There was also no reaction from either faction of Trinamool Congress’s legislative party in the West Bengal assembly at the time the report was filed.
Roy is currently a member of the “rebel but majority” faction in Trinamool Congress led by expelled party legislator Ritabrat Banerjee. However, she has maintained that she still considers former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as her supreme leader.
–IANS
src/dan
