Puducherry Police Visit Spokesperson's Home Amid Intimidation Allegations

Puducherry Police visited the family home of a political party spokesperson on Wednesday evening, an action he has publicly alleged was an act of political intimidation carried out at the behest of the central government. The police, however, have stated the visit was part of routine security measures ahead of Independence Day.

Saurav Das, co-convenor and spokesperson for the Cockroach Janata Party, said in a social media post that officers arrived at his family's residence on Manakula Vinayagar Street in Puducherry at approximately 5:30 p.m. on August 12. He alleged that two plainclothes officers from the Special Branch and Law and Order Wing questioned his mother for 15 to 20 minutes about household members and her background. Das claimed the officers also visited her former workplace.

In his public statement, Das questioned the purpose and legality of the visit, asking who had ordered it. He alleged the action was intended to intimidate him into silence and was being conducted by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in the Union Territory at the direction of the Union government. Das connected the timing of the police visit to a recent trip to Puducherry by Union Home...