Kolkata Police has arrested six men, all from neighbouring Howrah, in connection with the vandalising of TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee’s Camac Street office in Kolkata in the early hours of Thursday.
While the TMC leader alleged that the vandals belonged to the ruling BJP, police said that so far they have not found any political affiliation of the six arrested men, identified as Shankar Rao, Avinash Shaw, Sukhdev Gupta, Suraj Shaw, Amol Mondal and Rohit Borik.
“We have tracked the social media profile of the prime accused, Avinash Shaw. No political background of the accused has come to light. After taking them into custody, an identification process will be conducted to see if they were involved in any previous crimes. Some of the looted items were recovered from their possession,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Kunal Agarwal, adding they will be questioned to ascertain their motive and their political affiliation, if any.
According to TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, at around 4.30 am, men armed with weapons stormed his party office in the heart of Kolkata. Sharing the purported CCTV footage of the incident on X in which men in helmets and masks were seen carrying TV screens and other appliances out of the office, Abhishek wrote, “BJP hooligans… They attacked our people, snatched their phones, smashed furniture, ransacked the premises and destroyed electronic equipment.”
The Diamond Harbour MP also accused the police of not responding to the calls at the time of the attack. “And where was Kolkata Police? For nearly two hours, despite repeated calls and emails from our people and lawyers, there was no response. This is outrageous and unacceptable,” Abhishek said, demanding the immediate arrest of “every person involved in this attack”.
“We also demand an investigation into who planned, organised and directed this violence, and why the police failed to act despite being repeatedly informed. No political party and no group of armed hooligans can be above the law. If people can storm a political party office with weapons at 4.30 in the morning, assault people and vandalise property, while the police remain absent, then what exactly is left of the rule of law in West Bengal? Enough is enough,” said Banerjee, the nephew of former chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Kolkata Police, meanwhile, rejected the TMC leader’s charge, saying a police team reached the spot immediately after receiving the call.
“This morning, at the local police station… just before 6 am, information was received… that some people entered a premise and were vandalising it. Immediately around 6:00 am… a local police team reached the spot and six people were arrested from the spot,” said Kolkata ACP Agarwal.
In another post, which shows shards of glass strewn on the floor, the TMC MP said, “This is what the BJP has done to my party office in the early hours of this morning. Will the Governor of WB act? Will the Union Home Minister act? Will the PMO act? Or will they continue to look the other way?”
“It is high time the judiciary, particularly the Calcutta High Court, takes serious note of what is happening and acts to uphold the rule of law in West Bengal,” he said.
“If this is how the Opposition is to be treated in West Bengal, through violence, vandalism and intimidation, then the chief minister has no moral authority to remain in office. He must resign. This is not democracy. This is political thuggery,” he added.
Hours later, TMC supremo and former chief minister Mamata Banerjee threatened to hold demonstrations outside the residences of BJP leaders in New Delhi “if such attacks and atrocities continued”. The party also sought appointments with President Droupadi Murmu and West Bengal Governor R N Ravi to flag “utter lawlessness” in the state and the alleged misuse of police by the BJP government.
“How many incidents of atrocities should I mention? From Baruipur to Cooch Behar, Bankura, Garbeta, Howrah, Hooghly, Bardhaman, Birbhum, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri… such incidents are taking place everywhere. If people can create disturbances in the heart of Kolkata, one can imagine what is happening across rural Bengal… Nearly 4,000 of our party offices in villages and towns have been forcibly occupied or looted,” she said.
Hitting out at the BJP government in the state, the former CM said, “By repeatedly encouraging lumpen elements and unlawful activities, Bengal is being filled with a culture of intimidation. I do not believe that every police officer or every police family is bad. I have respect for those who honour the uniform and genuinely work as protectors of the people. But I have no respect for those who misuse their uniform, allow lumpen elements to loot and intimidate people, take cut money, torture citizens and file one case after another even when there is no proper case against them.”
BJP calls it ‘staged’
The BJP, meanwhile, trashed the allegations and claimed that the TMC staged the vandalism at Abhishek’s office. “This is all staged by the Trinamool Congress. The BJP is not involved in all this. They have no (political) issue; that’s why they are doing all this to stay in the limelight,” said BJP MLA from Baranagar, Sajal Ghosh. “What were Trinamool workers doing at that office at those hours?” he asked.
Why the office is in the news
The Camac Street office of Abhishek Banerjee has been in the spotlight after a recent visit by officials of Kolkata Municipal Corporation to remove “illegal hoardings”. Kolkata Police have filed an FIR against Abhishek Banerjee, TMC’s Rajya Sabha member Derek O Brien, and others for resisting municipal officials and police from removing an illegal hoarding at the office. Later, a team from the fire service department visited the office and issued a notice over alleged safety lapses at the office.
“It is high time the judiciary, particularly the Calcutta High Court, takes serious note of what is happening and acts to uphold the rule of law in West Bengal,” he said.
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