Express’ Calcutta bureau chief hurt in Trinamool attack

CALCUTTA, SEPTEMBER 14: Assistant Editor and bureau chief of The Indian Express in Calcutta, Subrata Nagchoudhury, was injured when armed ...

CALCUTTA, SEPTEMBER 14: Assistant Editor and bureau chief of The Indian Express in Calcutta, Subrata Nagchoudhury, was injured when armed Trinamool Congress supporters hurled a bomb at the car he was travelling in this morning. The bomb shattered the windscreen and seriously injured the driver who has been admitted to Calcutta Medical College Hospital.

Accompanying Nagchoudhury were two senior journalists from the Bengali daily, The Anandabazar Patrika, all of whom were on their way to office from their home at Salt Lake in east Calcutta. Trouble lay ahead in the Beliaghata area where the Trinamool Congress supporters had put up a road blockade on some local issue. As the police chased the agitators, a scuffle ensued.

When the police were clearing the cars stranded there, the TMC supporters noticed the car with the `Press’ sticker and hurled a bomb at it. “I had a very narrow escape as I was sitting on the front seat,” said Nagchoudhury. “Had they lobbed the bomb inside through the window, it would have been devastating,” he added.

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A complaint was lodged with Deputy Commissioner of Police, (Headquarters) Nazrul Islam.

Trinamool Congress leader and Union Minister for Railways Mamata Banerjee has reportedly condemned the incident and promised that all efforts would be made to ensure that such attacks on journalists were not repeated.

“Mamata was very upset and called me twice to enquire about the incident,” party spokesman and MP Sudip Bandopadhyay, who called up The Indian Express office a couple of hours after the incident told this newspaper. “We apologise for what has happened. We have decided to expel all those who have done this. We are also concerned because this blockade was against our policy of not creating troubles for citizens by putting up blockades and other difficulties,” Bandopadhyay said.

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