West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party leader Krishna Bhattacharya’s house in Hooghly district was attacked with bombs on Tuesday night allegedly by Trinamool Congress workers, ANI reported. The incident was reported hours after TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam. However, Trinamool leader Tapan Dasgupta said no party worker was involved in the incident.
Bhattacharya, in her police complaint, said three motorcycle-borne men with their faces masked hurled bombs at her house at 9 pm on Tuesday, PTI reported. The assailants allegedly vandalised her house and assaulted her as well, she has claimed. Bhattacharya was taken to the Uttarpara General Hospital for treatment, where doctors said her condition was stable.
Several BJP workers were injured on Tuesday after activists of the TMC students’ wing attacked the BJP headquarters in Kolkata following Bandhopadhyay’s arrest. Central Reserve Police Force personnel were deployed outside the BJP office after the violence was reported. TMC leader Derek O’Brien had said party legislators would hold a protest on Wednesday against the “financial emergency and political vendetta”.
West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee took to Twitter and said the arrest was made for no other reason but “note-bandi”. “We strongly condemn the political, vindictive attitude of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah...We will be with the people,” she tweeted. “This is not only a financial emergency. This is a full-fledged emergency.” She also “openly challenged” the prime minister to arrest her. “Let me see his guts. He may silence others, but not me,” she told reporters after Bandhopadhyay’s arrest.
On December 30, another leader of the ruling party in West Bengal, Tapas Pal, was sent to CBI custody for his involvement in the same scam. His remand was extended for three days on Tuesday. Banerjee had then pointed out that BJP leaders Babul Supriyo and Rupa Ganguly had not been arrested even though they were both involved in the scam, as well.
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