Man held from CM's house says he thought it was police HQ

kolkata: The man who sneaked past security guards and entered the premises of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's residence in the city has told the police that he had done so thinking it was the Kolkata Police headquarters, a senior police official said on Monday.

Hafizul Mollah, who is in his early 30s, is from Hashnabad in North 24-Parganas district, could not, however, clearly state why he needed to go to the Kolkata Police headquarters in the dead of the night, police said. The man had scaled a boundary wall of Banerjee's private residence at 34B Harish Chatterjee Street in Kalighat area of the city at around 1.20 am on Sunday. The security personnel posted there spotted him and handed him over to officers of Kalighat Police Station.

Mollah during grilling had first claimed to be a fruit seller and then a "good" vehicle driver, police said. Police said that going by the man's appearance he seemed to be "somewhat mentally unstable".

The investigating officers are drawing a map as per his descriptions about his activities throughout Sunday before reaching Kalighat.

"We are verifying his claims. Our officers are trying to draw a picture of his activities throughout Sunday and when and how he arrived at Kalighat. Also to find out whether he was alone or was he accompanied by anyone, how he managed to go past the security personnel and enter the CM's premises without being caught," the police official said. Police have booked Mollah under IPC section 458 and sent him to police custody till July 11.

Senior administrative officers met at the state secretariat on Monday and reviewed Banerjee's security arrangements.