KOLKATA: Six police personnel sustained injuries on Friday evening after being attacked by a mob when they detained a Trinamool Congress activist in North 24 Parganas district’s Sandeshkhali area.
Police said the team had gone to Boyemari village in Sandeshkhali to locate the suspect, Musa Mollah, who had been pumping water into a land parcel to turn it into a fish farm in violation of court orders.
Mollah had been summoned to the Nazat police station on multiple occasions, but he had not turned up. “On Friday, when police came to the village and detained him, a mob gathered and started pelting stones at the cops,” a local resident told the media.
“Six police personnel from Nazat police station were injured in Friday’s attack and a police vehicle was also damaged,” a senior police officer said.
The mob held the policemen captive and helped Mollah flee from the spot. Police reinforcements were later rushed to the scene to rescue the personnel.
Nine people have been arrested for the violence. Police were also questioning the panchayat leader and the deputy leader of the Boyermari-II village panchayat, which is run by the TMC.
Friday’s incident comes two years after a team of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that reached Sandeshkhali on January 5, 2024, to raid the residence of local TMC strongman and Zilla Parishad member Sheikh Shahjahan in connection with an alleged ration distribution scam.
In February 2024, protests also erupted with villagers, mostly women, accusing Shahjahan and his aides of land grabbing and sexual assault. The Calcutta high court later ordered a CBI probe. Shahjahan was subsequently arrested along with his associates, Shibaprasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar, and continues to be in prison.
Sajal Ghosh, BJP leader, said Friday’s incident showed that nothing has changed in Sandeshkhali.
“Shahjahan might be in jail but he still controls everything. Those who have assaulted the police are all TMC workers. Their task is to extort money. The police are also a slave of the TMC,” he said.
TMC leader Arup Chakraborty trashed the BJP’s claim, condemning the attack and underscoring that the police were acting against Mollah.
“This is condemnable. Police have taken action. It was a mob outrage which is being politicised. The opposition can’t do anything constructive. They have no issue in hand and hence making such statements,” he said.
