5 held for assault on Abhishek Banerjee, BJP claims ‘factional warfare’

KOLKATA: Police arrested five men, including a Trinamool Congress worker who helped organise the party's Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee's visit to Sonarpur on Kolkata's southern edge Saturday, where a mob hurled eggs, stones and shoes at him, tore his shirt, broke his spectacles and left him needing a cricket helmet for protection.

BJP claimed simmering factional warfare within TMC after its assembly poll loss had burst into the open.

Those arrested - Nirmalya Sengupta alias Joy, Akash Gayen, Kajal Das, Debashis Dutta and Tapan Maity - were identified through mobile phone footage and TV visuals after police registered a suo motu case. "Our investigation is on, and more arrests are likely soon," SP Shubhendra Kumar said.



The arrests fuelled a political slugfest. While Banerjee and TMC blamed BJP supporters, residents claimed most of those arrested had long-standing links with ex-CM Mamata Banerjee's party, though some drifted towards BJP after TMC lost the polls.

Particularly embarrassing for TMC was the arrest of Sengupta, working president of Sonarpur's Jai Hind Bahini, a youth and social service outfit aligned with the party. According to TMC functionaries, he played a key role in finalising Banerjee's itinerary for Saturday's visit.

Sengupta rejected the allegations while being escorted to court. "I have been framed. I have been with the party since 1998. Why would I attack Abhishek?" he said.

TMC national general secretary Banerjee, 38, had travelled to Kamrabad in Sonarpur to meet the family of deceased party worker Sanju Karmakar, whom TMC alleges was killed in post-poll violence. What followed was an ambush caught on camera.

After arriving in a car, Banerjee switched to a motorbike to navigate Sonarpur's narrow lanes. As he approached Karmakar's home, a hostile crowd surrounded him, hurling eggs, shoes, stones and bricks. He was punched, slapped and struck on the face by a broken brick thrown from close range.

Supporters formed a human shield and escorted him through a roughly 600m stretch to Karmakar's home, where he remained for more than an hour before security forces extracted him.

Videos of the assault quickly turned into ammunition in Bengal's bruising political battle. BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya alleged those arrested were closely associated with former TMC MLA Lovely Moitra until recently. "This revelation raises serious questions... Are internal rivalries now spilling out into the open?" he wrote on X.

State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said: "If Trinamool attacks Trinamool, what can we do? Police are doing their job, and everyone can see who is being arrested. It is not right to drag other parties into this."

TMC hit back by releasing photographs that it claimed showed accused Gayen carrying BJP flags alongside Sonarpur South BJP MLA Roopa Ganguly. The party alleged several attackers had links to BJP and described the assault as pre-planned.

Sharing a video purportedly showing food packets being distributed before Banerjee's arrival, TMC wrote: "Goons were assembled. Food was served. The attack followed. How much more evidence is needed to prove that the assault on Abhishek Banerjee was premeditated?"

Banerjee echoed that charge. He called the attack "state-sponsored terrorism", alleging withdrawal of security cover, failure to deploy police despite warnings and a "premeditated act of political violence".

BJP dismissed that accusation and portrayed the episode as blowback from years of political violence in Bengal. "People were apprehending the mob lynching of a few former ministers and Trinamool MLAs. It was averted because we ensured nothing of that sort could happen. However, pent-up public anger cannot be underestimated," Bhattacharya said.