Madan back home amid police presence

KOLKATA: The Kali Puja pandal of Modern Sporting Club in Bhowanipore wears a forlorn look. While the decorators’ labourers sleep on the incomplete dais inside, the bamboo scaffoldings of the pandal are exposed at places and colourful lights are yet to be installed yet.
A look inside the pandal reveals the mystery behind the pall of gloom: An abandoned board, with the name of the organizers and office-bearers on it, mentions transport minister Madan Mitra as the chairman of the Puja.Though Mitra has returned home, merely 10 metres from the pandal, he won’t be allowed to visit there, as he has been put under house arrest by Calcutta high court. “How can we celebrate when our leader is not going to be part of the festivities?” said a club member.
After being discharged from Woodlands on Monday morning, the Sarada scam accused headed straight home, amid heavy police presence. Twenty-five personnel, under an inspector, have been deployed outside Mitra’s home to keep an eye on the VIP “prisoner”. By afternoon, only five officers remained stationed Mitra’s gate, while some sat opposite the building and others wandered to a tea stall. The court has directed that Mitra will stay at home under police surveillance and can step out only in case of medical emergency and for interrogations by government agencies. “He is a VIP so he won’t defy the court order. If I were him, I would be happy to stay at home. This is a relatively easy duty and we can relax a bit,” said a constable, sharing a packet of chips with a colleague.
But the court order discounts any possibility of Mitra taking part in the Kali Puja on Tuesday. “Since this puja is being held for 69 years, we could not do away with it. But the euphoria will be absent,” said the member.
Puja committee vice-president Swarup Bose seemed reluctant to speak, but neigbours said earlier years, Mitra would spend most of his time at the pandal. “He would chat with everybody,” said Anindita Mitra, a neighbour.