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Kudmi leader Rajesh Mahato was among the four persons who were arrested Sunday in alleged connection with the attack on TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee’s convoy during his Jana Sanjog Yatra, taking the total number of arrests in the case to eight.
On Friday, West Bengal Minister of State for Forests Birbaha Hansda was injured as her vehicle was vandalised as stones were allegedly hurled at Abhishek’s convoy when they were travelling to Gajimul after leading a roadshow in Jhargram town, police had said.
The Jhargram police arrested four persons – state president of West Bengal Kudmi Samaj Rajesh Mahato, his brother Rakesh Mahato, state president of Adivasi Janjati Kudmi Samaj Shivaji Mahato and Anubhab Mahato.
“Four people were arrested on Saturday. On Sunday, four persons were detained and later arrested. So far, eight persons have been arrested in the case,” said a senior police official. Rajesh Mahato is among the 15 people named in the FIR which was lodged in connection with the incident on Friday.
According to police sources, the four persons arrested on Saturday have been remanded in police custody for three days. The accused arrested on Saturday were identified as Ajit Mahato, Anit Mahato, Manmohit Mahato, and Anup Mahato. While Anup is a resident of Manikpara in Jhargram district, the other three are residents of Garh Salboni where the incident happened on Friday evening, they added.
“They have been booked under various sections of IPC including 307 (attempt to murder), 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant), 120B (criminal conspiracy)/34 (Acts fine by several persons in furtherance of common intention) etc,” said the official.
The arrest of the Kudmi leaders comes a day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that she did not think the Kudmis were behind the attack.
“I believe my Kudmi brothers can’t do this. I think the BJP has done this atrocity. BJP workers disguised as members of the Kudmi community were behind it. They had gone to attack Abhishek,” the chief minister had said at an event in Paschim Medinipur district where she joined Abhishek’s ‘Jana Sanjog Yatra’.
Meanwhile, the West Bengal Central School Service Commission had sent a transfer notice to Rajesh Mahato, who teaches Bengali at the Banpur High School in Purba Medinipur. As per the notice, he has been transferred to Chamta Adarsh High School in CoochBehar. Officials said he was ordered to leave the school within five days.
The Kudmi community, which is classified as OBC in West Bengal, staged protests in several districts to press for the demand for inclusion into the Scheduled Tribe list.
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