On his 71st birthday, Kolkata cops grill Mithun over campaign speech

Actor-turned-Bharatiya Janata Party leader Mithun Chakraborty was on Wednesday questioned by the Kolkata Police in connection with a complaint accusing him of inciting post-poll violence in West Bengal through his speeches.

The interrogation, which was held virtually, began at 10.20 am and lasted for 45 minutes, a senior police officer said.

The National Award-winning actor is celebrating his 71st birthday on Wednesday.

Officers of the Manicktala police station in the eastern part of Kolkata asked the actor, who is currently in Pune, at least a dozen questions, the police officer said.

"The questioning lasted for 45 minutes and Mr Chakraborty was asked at least 12 questions by our officers. They asked him on whose instructions he had uttered those speeches while campaigning during the elections.

"Officers also asked him whether he was asked by his party to utter those speeches," he told PTI.

An FIR lodged at the police station alleged that the actor had used dialogues like 'Marbo ekhane lash porbe shoshane' (Will hit you here and the body will land in the crematorium) and 'Ek chobole chobi' (A snakebite will turn you into a photograph, meaning will kill you) at a rally in Kolkata after joining the BJP on March 7.

The complainant alleged that these dialogues caused post-poll violence in the state.

The Calcutta high court had directed Chakraborty to provide his email address to the state so that he can make himself available by way of video conference for questioning in connection with the complaint where he has been accused of promoting enmity between different groups, an intentional insult to provoke breach of peace, and making statements conducing to public mischief.

Clashes were reported from several parts of the state following the declaration of assembly poll results on May 2, in which the Trinamool Congress returned to power for the third time.

On prayers by the lawyers of the petitioner and the prosecution on Friday for taking up the matter on a later date, the court fixed the matter for hearing on June 18.

Chakraborty had filed the petition before the high court seeking quashing of the case registered against him for alleged incitement to post-poll violence through his speeches, wherein he had uttered popular dialogues from his films.

The septuagenarian actor had claimed that the utterances of such film dialogues were only recreational and that he is innocent and in no way connected with any offence as alleged by the complainant.

Chakraborty, a former Naxalite who made his acting debut with Mrinal Sen's Mrigayaa (1976), was once known for his proximity with former transport and sports minister Subhas Chakrabarty during the Left Front regime.

Later, he became TMCs Rajya Sabha MP in 2014.

He resigned from the Upper House of Parliament in 2016 and joined the saffron party ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections in West Bengal.