5 arrested for attack on Abhishek, police say more are being identified

The five arrested persons have been identified as Nirmala Sengupta, Debasish Dutta, Kajol Das, and Akash Gayen, a local youth.

Meanwhile, the TMC alleged that the attack on Abhishek Banerjee was “planned and BJP-sponsored”, and not a spontaneous expression of public anger as claimed by the ruling BJP.

The Opposition party posted photographs on its official X handle, claiming these proved the involvement of local BJP functionaries in the incident.

“If the BJP claims this attack was merely an expression of spontaneous public anger, then why was a key BJP functionary present at the scene playing such an active, directorial role? Who authorised this mobilisation?” the TMC posed in the X post.

The TMC also posted photos claiming that a woman seen in the crowd during the incident had previously been photographed alongside BJP leader Locket Chatterjee.

The party further questioned who had authorised the “mobilisation and planned the attack”.

On Saturday afternoon, Abhishek Banerjee was attacked by a mob in Sonarpur while on his way to meet the family of a TMC worker who was killed in an alleged post-poll violence. Stones, eggs, and shoes were hurled at him as he made his way on a motorbike in a narrow approach road to the party worker’s home. A group of men roughed him up and tore his shirt. After meeting the family of the dead TMC worker, Abhishek had pointed to the absence of police and security personnel and alleged that it was a “BJP-sponsored protest”.

He was later escorted back by a team of Central forces and police. From Sonarpur, Abhishek reached Apollo Hospital on the EM Bypass, and from there he was shifted to Belle Vue Clinic. TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, later, accused the BJP government of pressuring hospitals not to admit Abhishek. On the other hand, the BJP alleged that Abhishek tried to be hospitalised to evade a CID summons related to the MLAs’ signature forgery case, scheduled for Monday.

State BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya, meanwhile, denounced the attack on the TMC MP, saying such incidents aren’t desirable in a healthy and normal society. “The BJP is not involved in such activities. But what happened could be the outcome of the anger of locals who were tortured over the years,” Bhattacharya, however, added.

With PTI