A 20-year-old case has returned to haunt Congress MP Deepa Dasmunsi. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday ordered the resumption of a CID probe into the disappearance of Biman Bhattacharjee, a well-known theatre artiste and musician. His family blames Dasmunsi, then Deepa Ghosh, for his disappearance.
Biman, a member of the theatre group Bohurupee, went missing on June 14, 1992, from Beniatola Lane in central Kolkata. His elder brother Bidhan Bhattacharjee and NGO All India Legal Aid Forum had approached Mamata, demanding that the case be reopened.
In a written complaint, Bidhan had blamed Deepa for his brother’s disappearance. He had stated that Biman and Deepa lived together for three years at her house on Panditya Road in south Kolkata, and that Biman was abducted with prior planning and later murdered. An FIR was lodged with the Gariahat police station and Deepa was questioned by the police.
The Raiganj MP and wife of former Union minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, Deepa said that while Biman was known to her and used to visit her house, “there was no relationship with him”. “Biman was a musician involved with theatre. His home was located outside Kolkata.
At that time a lot of friends from the world of culture used to visit our house. Often they stayed in my guestroom on the ground floor. Biman too stayed in the guestroom for three months,” she told The Indian Express.
Questioning the timing of the probe, Deepa added: “Why was everyone silent on his disappearance for so long? Now his family is saying a lot of things. Are they really concerned about Biman? I don’t know about the All India Legal Aid Forum. The matter has been highlighted after a long time with political motive in mind.”
According to Bidhan, both Biman and Deepa were involved with theatre and became close in the 1980s. At that time, she regularly visited their home at Konnagar. Later, they allegedly started to stay together at Panditiya Road at Deepa’s residence. While Biman was 29 years old at the time, she was 31, Bidhan said. Gradually, Bidhan claimed, the relationship soured, taking a turn for the worse in 1992 after Deepa and Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi became close.
On the day of his disappearance — June 14, 1992 — Biman was at a play rehearsal at Beniatola Lane when he had an altercation with Deepa, Bidhan said. He alleged that some youths were waiting outside the premises in a car, and that Biman was abducted from there.
While they had approached former chief ministers Jyoti Basu and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee too, Bidhan said the police had failed to locate Biman and put the case on the backburner. General secretary of the All India Legal Aid Forum Joydeep Mukherjee said investigations will hopefully resolve the mystery.
Incidentally Deepa and Mamata have a long history of political rivalry in the state, with the MP a known opponent of the Congress alliance with the Trinamool Congress.
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