Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rakesh Singh was taken into custody by Kolkata Police from Galsi in Purba Bardhaman district on Tuesday night, ANI reported, quoting Kolkata police. He was summoned by the police in connection with the case regarding the seizure of drugs from the party’s youth leader Pamela Goswami.

Goswami, who is the state secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), was arrested from the New Alipore area in South Kolkata along with two more people after the police around 100 grams of cocaine was found from her handbag and car. 

The 27-year-old leader told reporters, as she was being presented before a city court by the police, that she was being framed and demanded a CID investigation in the case, according to a report in the Hindustan Times. 

“BJP’s Rakesh Singh, the aide of Kailash Vijayvargiya, should be arrested. This is his conspiracy,” she said. 

Meanwhile, Singh, a member of the BJP state committee, has refuted the charges, instead alleging that the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Kolkata Police have “brainwashed” Goswami. 

“If I am involved, they can call me or Kailash Vijayvargiya or Amit Shah. I think the police have brainwashed her. I am not in touch with Pamela for more than one-and-a-half-years now,” Singh told PTI. 

The Kolkata Police’s detective department, having taken over the case initiated by the local police, said it will question Singh later in the day. They have summoned Singh at 4 pm on Tuesday. 

“Singh has been sent a notice under Section 160 of the CrPC to appear by 4 pm on Tuesday for questioning,” a senior Kolkata Police official said. 

The police had earlier said that Goswami’s father, Kaushik Goswami, wrote a letter to the police commissioner and joint commissioner of police (crime) in April, 2020 and alleged that De, who was arrested along with his daughter, had introduced her to drugs. 

In the letter, Kaushik stated that De first started a business with Pamela and later introduced her to drugs.