Bengal polls: Humayun Kabir moves Calcutta HC over Trinamool video​

Former TMC MLA Humayun Kabir moved the Calcutta High Court seeking a probe into an alleged AI-generated video claiming a BJP deal, calling it a conspiracy ahead of polls, while parties denied links

Kolkata: Former Trinamool Congress legislator Humayun Kabir, who recently floated his own political outfit and is contesting the assembly elections, on Friday approached the Calcutta High Court with a plea seeking a probe into the video clip of him released by Trinamool Congress.​

In the video clip, Kabir was seen and heard speaking to an unidentified person about striking a Rs 1,000 crore deal with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to divide minority votes in the forthcoming West Bengal assembly election, in the saffron camp’s favour.​

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Kabir has already described the video clip as fake and artificial intelligence (AI)-generated, alleging that Trinamool Congress deliberately released it to malign him before the polls.​

In the petition filed at Calcutta High Court’s single-judge bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharya, Kabir requested a court direction to begin a proper investigation into who was behind making and circulating the video clip and with what intention.​

The petition has been admitted and is likely to come up for hearing on April 22.​

Kabir told media persons after filing the petition, “We will teach all those conspirators a lesson of justice and explain what the legal consequences would be of this planned political conspiracy. Our lawyers have already started the necessary initiatives in the matter. Action will be taken against all those behind this.”​

Kabir has already paid a heavy price following the release of the video, as Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) announced its decision to withdraw from the alliance it had previously announced with Kabir and his political party for the forthcoming two-phase assembly polls in West Bengal later this month.​ BJP also denied the allegations of Trinamool Congress of having a clandestine understanding with Kabir. ​

According to a BJP leader, the party would never have any kind of understanding with a person like Kabir, who wishes to set a Babri Mosque at Beldanga in minority-dominated Murshidabad district in West Bengal, in line with the original structure at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, which was demolished on December 6, 1992.​