Bhangar limps back to normalcy, cops lodge 5 FIRs, arrest 9 persons
Times of India | 16 April 2025
12 Kolkata: Bhangar limped back to normalcy on Tuesday, a day after waqf protesters went on the rampage and clashed with police. But the tension was palpable and few shops opened at places that bore the brunt of the violence.
Police have registered five FIRs and arrested nine persons. While eight of them were arrested by Uttar Kashipur police, one person was held by Chandaneswar police. More arrests were likely by Wednesday morning, indicated Kolkata Police.
While several major markets, shops and establishments in Bhangar-1 and Ghatakpukur remained open, several areas in Bhangar-II — including Sonpur Bazar, where cops were attacked, and Karbala village, where police raided multiple times throughout the night — remained jittery.
At Sonpur Bazar, where 16 cops were injured, barely 30 per cent of shops opened. Around 20 policemen — drawn in from not just Bhangar Division but even the adjoining East Division from as far as Survey Park PS — were on duty around noon. They replaced a larger contingent that was on night patrol.
At the entry to the bazar, the black soot — that accumulated after five police two-wheelers were set afire — was still visible along with bricks and stones that cops had removed to one side to ensure smooth vehicular flow.
Buyers at the few open shops looked shaky as cops kept a close watch: no conversation, no waiting, an unusual sight on a holiday. "A day before Nababarsha, the market was shut the whole day. There was brick-batting by outsiders. The market is down today. This is not how I wished to start Nababarsha," said Rezabul Islam, a cloth trader who didn't have even one buyer since morning.
About 2 km away, nervous relatives had flocked outside Uttar Kashipur police station. "The raids have begun. My young son has not returned home since Monday evening. I want to know if he was picked up," said Saira Begum, keeping an eye on the proceedings inside.
The burnt police vehicles were kept here even as a partially vandalised police jeep was being used to nab the accused and take them to court.
Police said they were collecting evidence of the arsonists from CCTV footage and even video clips recorded by locals. "We are in the process of taking them in custody and questioning if they planned the protests. The bricks gathered from the spot show that these were brought by the protesters," said a joint CP at Lalbazar.