Former judge and BJP Lok Sabha candidate Abhijit Gangopadhyay on Monday moved the Calcutta High Court alleging police overaction after they lodged an ‘attempt to murder’ case against him and others in West Bengal’s Tamluk last week.

Abhijit Gangopadhyay moved the petition before the single bench of Justice Jay Sengupta which directed that the matter be taken up for hearing on Tuesday. Alleging malafide and overaction on the part of the police, Gangopadhyay’s lawyer Rajdeep Majumder submitted before the court that the First Information Report (FIR) was lodged in an attempt to prevent him from campaigning for the Lok Sabha election.

Gangopadhyay, who resigned as a judge of the Calcutta High Court in March, is contesting the Lok Sabha elections 2024 from the Tamluk constituency in Bengal’s East Midnapore district as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate.

On May 6, the police registered an FIR against Gangopadhyay and Bharatiya Yuva Morcha (BJYM) leader Prashanta Das for allegedly attacking sacked school employees at their protest site. The FIR was lodged at the Tamluk Police station under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) among others against Gangopadhyay and Das based on the complaint by some of the teaching and non-teaching staff, who lost their jobs following a Calcutta High Court order.

The incident took place when Gangopadhyay along with party colleague Suvendu Adhikari led a rally before filing his nomination papers for the Tamluk Lok Sabha seat.