Suvendu slams Bengal Police over alleged Hilsa extortion
The Statesman | 9 September 2025The video, which has not been independently verified by The Statesman, purportedly shows fish traders surrounding Magrahat police station, demanding action against a sub-inspector. They alleged that the officer intercepted a truck loaded with hilsa fish, attempted to extort money, and later tried to sell the seized fish at a market in Diamond Harbour when the traders refused to pay. According to the traders’ claims, the officer, identified as Saikat Roy, held the vehicle for hours despite their insistence that they had not purchased undersized hilsa. When no payment was forthcoming, he allegedly took the consignment to Nagendra Bazar market and began selling it, where he was confronted by traders.
They also alleged that boxes of hilsa had already gone missing from the truck. Adhikari, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), seized on the controversy, branding it the “Diamond Harbour model” of police extortion. “Extortionist police stealing hilsa! Under Mamata Banerjee’s rule, the so-called protectors of law have turned into a gang of extortionists,” Adhikari wrote, adding, “Unable to extract money, they are now looting consignments themselves. This government must go, or else the people of Bengal will have to endure even worse.”
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader alleged that police in Diamond Harbour had been collecting between Rs 40,000 and Rs 50,000 from small fish traders for each truckload of hilsa in recent weeks, threatening to detain vehicles otherwise. There was no immediate response from the West Bengal Police or the ruling Trinamul Congress regarding the allegations.
