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Journalism of Courage
It8217;s a Catch-22 for the Kolkata Police. After receiving the arrest warrant against Mamata Banerjee, Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee held a closed-door meeting with his officers this afternoon to chalk out a plan of action. Although acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Headquarters N R Babu refused later to divulge what was discussed at the meeting, another senior police officer admitted to The Indian Express: 8216;8216;We are in a fix as the issue is very sensitive.8217;8217;
The arrest warrant against Mamata is to be executed by Saturday and is threatening to snowball into a major standoff between Mamata and the administration. According to the police, the case against her relates to the death of a man at Barasat in 1994, during a Youth Congress had rally. The police at the time levelled non-bailable charges against the organisers, including Mamata who was then Youth Congress president.
Sources in the CPIM said the party8217;s top brass are not in favour of Mamata8217;s arrest at this juncture. 8216;8216;Arresting Mamata before the Assembly elections will boomerang,8221; a CPIM leader said. 8220;She will be able to extract mileage out of it.8217;8217;
Trinamool Congress MLA Sovondeb Chatterjee, a co-accused in the same case, said they were yet to receive the warrant.
8216;8216;We are yet to receive a copy of the arrest warrant. Even if we do, we have decided not to surrender before the Court. Let the police come and arrest her. This is the party8217;s decision,8217;8217; Chatterjee asserted.
