Mamata Banerjee to meet Mohammed Shami’s wife Hasin Jahan on Friday

In a new twist to the ongoing controversy centering Indian cricket team pace bowler Mohammed Shami following his wife’s charges against him, Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee will meet Hasin Jahan at the state secretariat on Friday.

Jahan earlier told the media that she wanted to have the chief minister’s support in her fight against Shami, whom she has accused of grave charges including attempt to murder.

“On Wednesday morning, I received a call from an officer of the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO). An officer told me that a meeting has been tentatively scheduled in the second half of March 23,” Jahan told the media.

Incidentally, Mamata Banerjee is also in charge of the home department.

On March 19, after making a confidential statement to a judicial magistrate at Alipore court in Kolkata, she went to the residence of the chief minister at Kalighat and submitted an application seeking an appointment with her.

On Tuesday, Shami’s wife also alleged that her husband has stopped supporting her financially. According to her she went to a bank to encash a cheque for Rs 1 lakh that his husband gave her earlier, but was told that the bank was advised stop payment.

“The money was meant for payment of car insurance as well as meeting daily expenses,” said Jahan.

Kolkata Police has registered a case against Shami on the basis Jahan’s complaints.

The cricketer has been charged under various sections including 498A (domestic violence) 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing heart) and 506 (criminal intimidation). A case under section 376 (rape) of IPC has also been filed against Shami’s elder brother.

The anti-corruption unit of Board of Control for Cricket in India is also probing charges of him receiving money from a Pakistani woman named Alishba on the insistence of an England-based businessman, Mohammad Bhai.