North 24-Parganas: Police block BJP supporters from staging demonstration against ED attack
Telegraph | 12 January 2024
BJP supporters led by the party’s Bengal president Sukanta Majumdar had a scuffle with police near Nazat police station in North 24-Parganas on Thursday afternoon when they were prevented from staging a demonstration demanding the arrest of Trinamul Congress leader Shahjahan Sheikh and his close aides.
Shahjahan’s close aides had allegedly attacked Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials when they had gone to raid his residence near Sandeshkhali on January 5.
The police stopped a rally of over 1,000 BJP supporters at Battala, around 100 meters ahead of the Nazat police station. The police placed barricades in the way of the rally, leading BJP protesters to pull those away and get involved in a scuffle with the cops.
To protest against the police inaction in the Sandeshkhali incident and the role of the cops in stopping their demonstration, Majumdar, along with BJP supporters, sat on the road till a delegation was allowed to enter the police station to submit a memorandum demanding the arrest of Shahjahan, his close aides Jiauddin Mollah and others.
Addressing the BJP supporters at Nazat, Majumdar said: “Seven days have elapsed since the attack on ED officials. But it is a shame that the police remain clueless and have shown no credible activity to arrest the accused person. However, the police could promulgate Section 144 only to prevent the BJP supporters from protesting....”
Countering Majumdar’s allegations, Shahjahan’s brother and Trinamul’s youth wing leader Alamgir Sheikh said: “The BJP has been conspiring with the ED to malign my brother. We have absolute faith in the law. There would have been no trouble if the ED had notified us about the raid on our home...”
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday refused to comment on the attack on ED officials while interacting with reporters in Nabanna.
“The matter is under investigation and I don’t have any comment,” she said.