Kolkata: Union Minister of State for Home Nisith Pramanik on Tuesday surrendered at Alipurduar district court over his alleged involvement in a burglary case in two jewellery shops in Alipurduar in 2009.
Last year in November, Alipurduar district court had issued an arrest warrant against Pramanik following which the Union Minister had moved the Calcutta High Court for bail. After hearing the petition, the Calcutta High Court had asked Pramanik to be present before the district court by January 12.
Pramanik surrendered himself at the district court
Obeying the court’s order Pramanik had surrendered before the court. According to court sources, Pramanik was present in the court for approximately 40 minutes and stated that since he is a union minister, he cannot always be present during the hearing. As per High Court’s order, henceforth, the hearing will be attended by Pramanik’s counsel.
Coming out from the court, Pramanik claimed that it is a ‘political ploy of the state government to frame him’.
Earlier, too, Pramanik got into a controversy. Former Congress Rajya Sabha MP Ripun Bora in 2021 claimed Pramanik was a Bangladeshi, and had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to investigate Pramanik’s nationality.
Pramanik's political career
Pramanik had also contested the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections and got elected from Dinhata assembly constituency in Cooch Behar district. However, as the BJP lost, Pramanik chose to retain his Lok Sabha seat and resigned from the Assembly.
He started his political journey with Trinamool Congress. However, before the 2018 polls for three-tier panchayat system, he disassociated himself from the Trinamool and fielded his followers as independent candidates in 2018, many of whom got elected. Thereafter he joined the BJP and successfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Cooch Behar.
Earlier too, he got involved in controversies as in 2021, Congress's then Rajya Sabha member, Ripun Bora wrote a letter to Prime Minister, Narendra Modi alleging that Pramanik is a Bangladeshi and his nationality should be investigated. The BJP, however, dismissed these allegations as baseless.
(with agency inputs)
(To receive our E-paper on WhatsApp daily, please click here. To receive it on Telegram, please click here. We permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)
