An alumnus of Jadavpur University (JU), wanted in connection with the attack on West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu’s convoy on the varsity campus in March this year, was arrested at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi on Wednesday, soon after he landed in the country from Spain, where he is pursuing research work.
According to Kolkata Police, Hindol Majumdar was named in the FIR for his role as the main conspirator behind the incident of arson and attack on the minister, and a Look Out Circular (LOC) notice was earlier issued against him.
“He is a former student of JU and is pursuing higher studies in Spain. Today (Wednesday) morning, he was arrested at Delhi airport based on the LOC issued against him. Officials of Jadavpur police station, along with a team of officers, have already reached Delhi to complete the arrest procedure. He will be produced in the court tomorrow (Thursday) for transit remand,” a senior officer of Kolkata Police told The Indian Express.
Majumdar was named in FIR registed at Jadavpur police station on March 1 under BNS sections 126 (2) (wrongful restraint), 118 (1) (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (2) (offence of mischief), and 3/4 of PDPP (the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act) and 9 WBMPO Act (The West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order Act).
On March 1, the Education Minister’s visit to Jadavpur University in Kolkata for a meeting of the West Bengal College and University Professors’ Association turned violent amid protests by Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and other Left students’ outfits who were demanding the holding of the student union election.
As the minister was leaving the campus, around 100 students surrounded his car. They allegedly damaged the windscreen, showed him shoes, and deflated the car’s tyres, leaving the minister confined in his vehicle for about two hours.
Basu had sustained minor injuries, including cuts on his left hand from shattered glass fragments.
One student was also reportedly injured by a car in the minister’s convoy.
The incident led to the registration of multiple FIRs. Kolkata Police had issued a lookout notice against Hindol Majumdar, a research scholar in Spain, alleging that he was a “prime conspirator”.
A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court had also directed the police to register FIRs based on complaints from the students.