A woman in West Bengal has accused a Communist Party of India (Marxist) Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) of attempting to bribe her to the tune of Rs.50 lakhs to cover up sexual assault on her.

Ritabrata Banerjee, a senior CPI-M leader, was recently sacked from the party for his anti-social activities and also for his extra-marital affair with a woman.  In this backdrop, Namrata Datta of South Dinajpur District in the State has accused Banerjee of sexual assault on her and then offering bribe to cover up the issue.

In her latest post on her Twitter account, Datta has said that Banerjee promised to marry her before taking her to an apartment in New Delhi some time back. “He had sex with me on the promise of getting married and now refuses to keep up his promise. He has even offered me a bribe of Rs.50 lakhs to keep my mouth ‘shut’ about the entire episode.

“He is threatening me with dire consequences if I didn’t take the money and do as per his instructions. I’m in a helpless position as he is an M.P.  I appeal to chief-minister Mamata Banerjee to help me out,” Datta has said in her Twitter post, marking a copy to Union Women & Child Development Minister Menaka Gandhi as well.

“I had already lodged a complaint with the Karpa Police Station in Kolkata but the police have so far not acted on my complaint,” she added.  Meanwhile, the M.P. in question has denied the accusations and added that the complaints were wrong and politically motivated.