Kolkata: BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday accused Dev, the sitting Ghatal MP who is seeking re-election, of taking money from a relative of a cattle smuggling accused and accepting expensive gifts such as a mobile phone and a watch.
Dev, however, denied these allegations, stating that he had only taken a loan from a firm for his film production in 2022, which he has since repaid, and denied receiving any gifts from third parties.
Under the headline 'Dever Kirti' (deeds of Dada), Mr Adhikari posted on X purported images of a diary page with jottings where the word 'Dev' appeared alongside notations for a mobile phone and a watch, with prices quoted. Another image purportedly showed Rs 50 lakh being paid in two installments of Rs 25 lakh each by a private firm to a production house on March 31, 2022.
Dev refuted the accusations and told reporters, "As a producer and actor, whatever money I had taken from anyone has been returned. I have handed over all relevant documents to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which interrogated me for over seven hours on two occasions and found no irregularities." Dev also shared images on social media showing his production company returning the Rs 50 lakh loan taken for making a film.
The Tollywood superstar-turned-three-time MP addressed Mr Adhikari on social media, saying, "Suvendu da, we understand you are dreaming of becoming the CM one day. But such cheap allegations will reduce you to the level of a councillor from a leader of opposition stature." Dev questioned whether Hiran Chatterjee, the BJP candidate and his industry colleague, had also received money from the same person Adhikari mentioned in his social media posts.
"If Suvendu Adhikari has obtained any copy of my legal transactions, how did he get that? I had handed over all my documents to the ED during questioning, and they found no illegalities. This implies that a BJP leader has been given confidential documents by the central agencies," he added.
Dev remarked that 95 per cent of members of the Bengali film industry have had financial transactions with such financiers for ages, but the ED could not find any illegalities in his case.
On his X handle, he shared images of an event financed by the same person, where Hiran, along with several other Bengali film personalities, was slated to be present.
"Is he (Hiran) linked with any cattle smuggling accused in that case? My best wishes for both of them (Adhikari and Hiran) for everything. But please don't consider my politeness as my weakness," he said in another post in Bengali on X.
Hiran Chatterjee responded, saying, "Dev himself is now admitting he received the amount from one cattle smuggling-tainted person. He had earlier claimed he did not, and if there is any shred of evidence that he took money from anyone, he would quit the film industry. Will he do that now?"
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)