Kolkata: The veteran leader and former party legislator Tanmoy Bhattacharya, whose suspension has been recently revoked has been again suspended for six months accused of sexual harassment of a woman journalist.
The party committee said that the decision of the state Committee will be conveyed to the party’s Central Committee, which will take the final decision on the matter next month.
Notably on December 13, the party announced his suspension revoke through a Whatsapp message circulated by the CPI-M’s North 24 Parganas district Secretary, adding that henceforth, Bhattacharya will be able to participate in the organisational work of the party as he had been doing.
However, only after six days the news surfaced that Bhattacharya had been suspended again.
Insiders in the party said that the earlier decision to revoke the suspension of Bhattacharya was following the conclusion of the probe by the party’s internal complaints committee into the matter.
However, they added that after thoroughly reviewing the report by the said committee, especially some observations and suggestions made there, the party’s state Committee has decided to suspend him again.
In October, a woman reporter attached to an independent YouTube channel on Facebook accused Bhattacharya of “sexually inappropriate” behaviour with her while she went to his residence to interview him in October this year, the state Committee of the CPI-M suspended him the same day and also initiated an internal probe against him by the party’s internal complaints committee.
Later, based on the FIR filed by the woman reporter at Baranagar Police Station, Bhattacharya was summoned by police several times for questioning. However, no coercive action was initiated against him.
Bhattacharya was later granted bail by Calcutta high court on December 17, but imposed certain condations.