MOS alleges arrest in Bengal, police deny

KOLKATA: Union minister of state Shantanu Thakur said on Tuesday that he was among several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and workers to be arrested for taking part in the Shahid Samman Yatra, in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district.

However, the police denied Thakur’s charge.

“I came to offer puja and was arrested by the police,” the Union minister of state for ports, shipping and waterways said.

However, the police denied the charge. “Cars were kept at the airport for Thakur since he is a Union minister. BJP workers started a snap demonstration and we had to stop them. Thakur forcefully boarded the bus in which the BJP workers were being taken away... He was not arrested,” an officer of the airport police station said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has alleged that 36 of its workers have been killed in Bengal since the assembly poll results were announced on May 2. The state government has told the Calcutta high court - which asked the NHRC to probe the allegations of post-poll violence - that the report is biased and prepared with a political motive.

“The Bharatiya Janata Party has no base in Bengal. Why will the police arrest a Union minister? This is a lie...,” said Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MP Saugata Roy.

Meanwhile, police said it arrested over 30 BJP workers in various districts across the state for violating Covid-19 restrictions, but later released them.

However, Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party’s chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said, “The TMC government was informed in advance that our programme would be held in compliance with Covid curbs and yet our workers and leaders were arrested.”