Jalpaiguri: A BJP MLA's son and his driver were arrested on Friday following an attack on a Cooch Behar Trinamool neta. Raju Dey, karmadhyaksha of Cooch Behar Block 2 Panchayat Samity, was travelling to his home on his bike when four persons shot at him near Jhinaidanga around 11 pm on Thursday, police said. The bullet hit Dey on his right shoulder. He underwent a surgery early on Friday at a private nursing home. His condition is said to be stable.
Besides arresting Cooch Behar (Uttar) Sukumar Roy's son Subhankar and his driver Uttam Gupta, cops have also impounded the black SUV used by the attackers. An FIR has been lodged against four people.
"The vehicle belongs to MLA Roy. Witnesses saw his son in the car at the time of the incident," a police officer said.
In a video message, Dey said: "A couple of months back, locals in Chakchaka held protests against the MLA. The legislator was travelling in the same car back then. It was seen yesterday, too, when I was attacked.
"Cops had first arrested MLA Roy's elder son. Later, however, they released him and arrested the younger son. "Hunt is on to get the other two involved in the attack," said SP Dyutiman Bhattacharya.
Following the attack, TMC posted on X: "The 2024 Lok Sabha results from Bengal made it clear that @BJP4India was rapidly losing ground in Cooch Behar. Now that the district has slipped from their iron-fisted grasp, they've returned to what they do best: unleashing BRUTE, MINDLESS VIOLENCE.
" TMC workers staged protests across the district, demanding punishment for culprits.
"This is an exceptional case where the son of a BJP MLA is trying to kill our man. We would expect the governor and the NHRC to visit Cooch Behar as they do every time BJP blames our party," said TMC district president Avijit Dey Bhowmik.
The MLA, however, said that the arrest of his son and the seizing of his car were parts of an effort to malign him. "With the assembly polls near, TMC netas have become desperate to gain ground in the district, especially in my constituency, as they know they will lose this time as well. They are therefore using cops to do what they do best," Roy said, claiming Dey was shot in factional fight.(With inputs from PTI)