Jun 30, 2025 07:36 PM IST
The BJP alleged that the TMC was trying to frame the Padma Shri awardee monk, Swami Pradiptananda, with trumped up charges Kolkata/Berhampore: Bengal’s Murshidabad district police on Monday served a summon notice to 2025 Padma Shri awardee Swami Pradiptananda, a Bharat Sevashram Sangha monk popularly known as Kartik Maharaj, asking him to appear at the Lalbagh police station by 10 am on Tuesday for questioning in the rape case filed against him last week on the basis of a complaint lodged by a local woman.
Swami Pradiptananda (File Photo) “Swami Pradiptananda is not here. I will go through the papers and inform him,” said Swami Anirbanananda, another monk from the Bharat Sevashram Sangha’s Beldanga ashram after receiving the notice.
Swami Pradiptananda is in charge of the Beldanga ashram. He shared dais with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Bengal leaders such as Suvendu Adhikari several times in recent months. In May 2024, chief minister Mamata Banerjee publicly accused him of helping BJP in the then ongoing Lok Sabha polls. The monk sent a legal notice to Banerjee demanding an unconditional apology but she stuck to her allegations.
The Lalbagh police station registered the rape case on June 26 and additional superintendent of police Raspreet Singh said an investigation was underway. The monk, however, was not questioned till Sunday.
Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar and his party colleagues have alleged that the Trinamool Congress was trying to frame the monk with trumped up charges.
“The veracity of the charges should be investigated first. Kartik Maharaj is being framed by TMC,” Majumdar said.
The complainant has accused Swami Pradiptananda of raping her r
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