KOLKATA – Pinki Pramanik’s former live-in partner has admitted to bringing trumped up rape charges against the Asiad gold medallist at the behest of land broker Avtar Singh and has offered copies of taped conversation as evidence.
The West Bengal government ordered a probe on Monday after this latest twist in the case. “We have received copies of taped conversations between Anamika Acharya and Singh,” Bidhannagar police commissioner Rajeev Kumar said on Tuesday.
Acharya reportedly came clean on Friday, claiming Singh pressured her to blackmail Pramanik and take nude pictures of her — allegedly to prove she is male — over a land deal gone sour. “Singh used to frequent our house and took advantage of the rift between me and Pramanik. I recorded all our conversations because I never trusted him,” Acharya said, according to sources.
Singh is allegedly after the land Pramanik got from the state government. “Not only Pramanik’s case but all land allotments to athletes by the erstwhile Left Front government will be probed,” urban development minister Firhad Hakim said Monday.
Last week, sports minister Madan Mitra had pointed to Singh’s involvement in the case, saying: “How does Avtar Singh, a criminal arrested on charges of running a sex racket, get involved in all this? It must be probed.”
Singh’s wife Jyotirmoyee Sikdar — a former CPM MP and former athlete herself, who was instrumental in drumming up support for Pramanik — defended her husband: “The allegations are baseless. I will file a petition in the Calcutta high court on July 18 against the misinformation campaign by Acharya and a section of the media.”Pramanik is currently out on bail after spending 26 days in custody.
