West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had suffered injuries to her leg during her visit to Nandigram. The West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Saturday took over the investigation of the March 10 incident in Purba Medinipur’s Nandigram area in which Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was injured. Banerjee is contesting the Assembly election from Nandigram against her former lieutenant Suvendu Adhikari, who is now in the BJP.
The CID’s six-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) will be led by Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Operations Ajay Thakur. According to sources, the SIT will look into the chief minister’s allegation that four to five people deliberately attacked her at Birulia Bazar, hours after she filed her nomination papers.
A police case was filed based on a complaint from Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sheikh Sufiyan. The case was lodged under IPC sections 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) and 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt).
Following the incident, the Election Commission sought reports from the superintendent of police, the district magistrate and the chief secretary. Based on the reports, the commission directed the police to step up the security of star campaigners of political parties. The poll body also removed Banerjee’s Director of Security Vivek Sahay, Purba Medinipur SP Praween Prakash, and District Magistrate Vibhu Goel.
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