Kolkata: Four BJP supporters were arrested for beating up an Anti-Rowdy Officer (ARO) of Lake police station and two Trinamool Congress supporters at Jodhpur Park on Thursday night.
The incident took place after a husband-wife duo in the locality ignored the appeals to listen to a few BJP party workers when they visited their house to talk about the positives of the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens.
When ARO Pushpal Bhattacharjee rushed to the spot on being informed of the alleged assault, one of the BJP supporters inflicted deep cuts on him. Bhattacharjee has been admitted to
a local hospital. Two local Trinamool supporters — Meghnad Purkait and Sanat Naskar — were also injured in the incident.
It was around 8.30 pm when Shyamal Pachal along with his wife stood in front of their residence and the BJP supporters came and started campaigning in favour of the CAA and NRC. When the couple ignored them, they started assaulting the two.
Another woman, who is their neighbour, rushed to their rescue and was also manhandled. Soon, some onlookers rushed to their rescue and one of them brandished a razor and inflicted injuries on Naskar. Purkait was beaten up severely and suffered a fracture in one of his hands.
The ARO of Lake police station was also injured as he tried to bring the situation under control and was also attacked with the razor during which he incurred deep cuts. A team from the Lake police station reached the spot and detained a number of persons.
Later after interrogation, four persons including three women — Balaram Singh, Kiran Singh, Kabita Sardar and Sushmita Halder were arrested. The four were produced at Alipore Court on Friday and were remanded to police custody till January 31.
"We have indexed three cases in connection with the incident at Lake police station. The police have initiated a suo moto case for the assault on an on-duty cop while the TMC and BJP have filed counter cases. The investigation is on," said Subhankar Sinha Sarkar, Joint Commissioner of Police (Headquarters).
"Their president (Dilip Ghosh) has been constantly making provocative statements of beating up policemen and TMC partymen so their workers are becoming violent," said Ratan Dey, the local councillor.