Kolkata, Oct 9 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday warned of action against CPI(M) leader Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya for his remark that “Hindutvawadi miscreants were behind the vandalism” at his house, as police booked him for it and arrested a man for the attack.
“The attack will certainly be probed. On my instructions, police have arrested the attacker. But how could he (Bhattacharya) write on social media that Hindutva activists were behind the attack? He has insulted the entire Hindu community. Action will be taken against him as well,” Adhikari said while addressing an event at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on Thursday.
He went on to say, “I am not someone who will let this go. Anyone who points fingers at the saffron, Sanatan, Hindutva or nationalist forces must be taught a lesson.”
Bhattacharya on Thursday alleged that ‘Hindutvawadi’ miscreants smashed window panes and a CCTV camera at his residence here. The incident occurred around 5 am in Kalikapur off E M Bypass.
The CPI(M) leader, who is also a senior lawyer, has alleged on social media that unidentified youths with their face covered arrived on motorcycles and smashed the windowpanes of his house. The former Kolkata mayor has lodged an FIR and claimed the attack was carried out by “Hindutvawadi miscreants”.
“Around 5 am today, Hindutva goons attacked my house. They arrived on a motorcycle, hurled liquor bottles at the windows, smashed the panes and fled. My domestic help narrowly escaped injury,” Bhattacharya had posted on Facebook.
“They had their faces covered and concealed the motorcycle’s number plate. It was a well-planned attack. If these people are not terrorists, then who are they? Let those terrorists know that they cannot intimidate me. I will now apply for an arms licence,” his another post read.
A police officer said two FIRs have been registered against Bhattacharya at Topsia and Garfa police stations over his social media remarks.
A man, identified as Bappa Guchait, a resident of Narendrapur, has been arrested for the attack and will be produced in court later in the day, another officer said.
“We are questioning Guchait to determine the circumstances of the incident and whether others were involved,” the officer said, adding that a photograph of the arrested man showing him wearing a scarf of the Trinamool Congress has also surfaced on social media.
“We are verifying his political affiliation as well as the motive behind the attack,” he added.
A case was initially registered against Guchait under Sections 324(6) (preparing to cause death, hurt, or wrongful restraint), 125 (endanger life or personal safety), 79 (insult the modesty of a woman), 352 (intentional insult to provoke breach of public peace) and 351(2) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the police official said.
Charges of causing disappearance of evidence and forgery were later added to the case as the investigation progressed, he added. PTI SCH NSD
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