Eight held for ‘heckling’ Dilip Ghosh, granted bail

The Kolkata Police on Tuesday registered a suo motu case in connection with the “heckling” of BJP leader Dilip Ghosh in the Jadubabu Bazar area of Bhabanipur Assembly constituency the day before. They also arrested eight people but all of them received bail, said officials.

Suspected Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers pushed and heckled the BJP national vice-president on the last day of campaigning for the September 30 by-poll in which Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is up against the BJP’s Priyanka Tibrewal. Banerjee has to win the election to keep her chair.

The incident occurred when Ghosh went into a vaccination camp, and following the melee, his security officer was seen whipping out a pistol. However, a local TMC leader alleged that the former state BJP president had first pushed a local worker of his party.

Sources said the government held a high-level meeting with nine police stations in the constituency during the day, and the accused were arrested based on CCTV footage and eyewitness statements.