Kolkata, June 4 Prithviraj Panoli, father of Sharmistha Panoli, the 22-year-old law student and social media influencer arrested recently by Kolkata Police on charges of hurting religious sentiments and promoting hatred through her post, on Wednesday refuted the statement of the West Bengal government and police administration that his daughter absconded to Gurugram before her arrest.
Since her arrest last week, the police administration has been repeatedly stating in the media that based on an FIR registered against her at Garden Reach Police Station on May 15, the police first sent Panoli a notice, which failed since she had gone into hiding in Haryana's Gurugram by then.
The police stated that, thereafter, an arrest warrant was issued against Panoli and subsequently, she was arrested.
Refuting the statement of the state police, the social media influencer's father on Wednesday issued a written and video note claiming that his daughter was in Gurugram to attend a pre-scheduled internship in law with a reputed advocate.
“Sharmistha was in Gurugram for a pre-planned internship in law with a reputed lawyer at Nehru Enclave in Delhi. Before this, in February and March this year also, she had interned in Delhi, for which she had received a stipend from a well-reputed law firm in Saket, Delhi,” Prithviraj Panoli said in the statement.
He also stated that from the day of the FIR registration, till May 25, they were in touch with West Bengal Police.
According to Prithviraj Panoli, his daughter came to Kolkata from Pune, where she is studying law, on the morning of May 15. According to him, he and his daughter went to the Cyber Police Station at the Kolkata Police headquarters at Lalbazar in Central Kolkata and also to Anandapur Police Station, which is also under the jurisdiction of the city police, seven times between May 15 and May 19 to register online and mobile threats received by Sharmistha over her Instagram post.
“I was in touch with Lalbazar police till May 26 through WhatsApp communications, since all our normal calls were deactivated to avoid the online and mobile threats from all over India and abroad. From May 22 onwards, Sharmistha started her internship in Delhi. She travelled two hours by public transport daily for that purpose. She continued with her internship till May 29 till West Bengal Police arrested her on May 30,” her father claimed.
Prithviraj Panoli also accused the police of not providing him with the copy of the FIR registered against his daughter.
“As per information received, West Bengal Police conducted searches at places like Saharanpur, Noida, and Ghaziabad, even though we were in a single hotel in Gurugram for the entire period from May 20 till May 30, till Sharmistha was arrested,” he claimed.
To recall, an FIR was registered against Sharmistha at Garden Reach Police Station on May 15 for posting an Instagram video, where she made some objectionable comments related to 'Operation Sindoor' that had reportedly hurt the religious sentiments of a particular community.
In the face of strong criticism, the law student deleted that video. She also tendered a public apology for the matter. However, she was finally arrested on May 30.
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