Couple among locals injured in pandal attack over Kasba Kali Puja club control
Times of India | 3 November 2024
Kolkata: An attempt to gain control over a club committee in Kasba reportedly resulted in a group of men vandalising a Kali Puja managed by the club on Saturday night, injuring several club members and locals when they protested.
The altercation occurred at Kasba's Haltu, where the injured club members accused supporters of local councillor Lipika Manna of carrying out the attack. They said the assailants turned violent after their repeated unsuccessful attempts to take over management of the club.
Samiran Saha, a senior organiser of the club and the puja committee, and his wife Mou, said they were returning from an invitation when they saw the group of about 25 men, led by some known faces, vandalising the pandal premises. "My husband asked them why they were doing so and requested them to calm down. Without answering, they attacked him. Both his eyes were injured. I was also harassed and have an injury in one eye. My husband's condition is worse, and doctors fear he may lose vision in an eye," said Mou.
Locals said when others came to the Sahas' rescue, they were also attacked. "There were kids with us who got scared and started crying. The men began assaulting all of us. A woman named Payel Mondal had to be hospitalised," Saha said.
According to Uttam Mondal, joint secretary of Nabin Sangha club in Haltu Bazaar, they have been organising the puja for 71 years. Trouble over control of the puja and the club began last year. Mondal said Sushanta Ghosh, the former councillor of Ward 107, under which the area falls, is their chief patron, and he inaugurated the puja this year. However, this enraged Manna and her associates, which possibly led to the assault. Ghosh is the current councillor of ward 108. Since ward 107 is reserved for women, Trinamool had to change the candidate, forcing Ghosh to contest from 108.
"Ghosh has been our patron since 2010 and still helps us even though he is not the current councillor of our ward. But Manna wants to gain control of the club and the puja committee. Her followers even participated in the club election last year, which was held under police watch, but they lost. Since we asked Ghosh to inaugurate the puja this year as well, it possibly enraged them and they went for the attack," said Mondal.
Mondal claimed that when they took Saha and others to the hospital, Manna and her associates visited them and offered money. "We didn't accept the money. We don't want politics. All we want is justice," said Saha.
An FIR was lodged at Kasba police station, where the complainants named nine persons, including Manna's driver, who was allegedly leading the attack. None has been arrested so far. "We have started a case and are trying to arrest the assailants at the earliest," said a senior officer of Kolkata Police.
TOI tried to reach Manna but one of her associates answered the calls and said she was busy with Bhai Phonta programmes and couldn't take the calls.
Since 2021, when both Ghosh and Manna won the election for wards 108 and 107 respectively, the two councillors and their followers have been at odds. Their conflicts have repeatedly come to light and the incident in Haltu seems like a reflection of this long-standing dispute. However, Ghosh denied any political connection to the incident, saying: "I don't think there is any politics involved here. It seems like the handiwork of a group of miscreants. But I plead that no one should protect them. They should face the strictest punishment."