As many as 977 people were arrested from across Kolkata for alleged disorderly conduct on Holi and Dol on March 1 and 2, respectively. Senior police officers at Lalbazar said most of the arrests were in connection to drunken brawls. “People getting involved in altercations and ending up in scuffles in an inebriated state is a common phenomenon during Holi. We intervened and made the arrests to prevent these incidents from spiralling out of situation,” said a police officer.
The other arrests included those for traffic violations like drink and negligent driving. Kolkata Police even seized 133.2 litres of liquor. Most of the seizure was made from Port Division, where police recovered 81.2 litres.
Sources in the police said that Port Division even witnessed the highest number of arrest. “182 people were arrested from Port Division followed by South Division, where 152 people were picked up,” said a senior police officer.
Kolkata Police sources said 108 were arrested from North Division, 77 people nabbed from Central Division, 46 each from East Kolkata and South West Division, 136 from South Suburban Division, 88 from South East division and 142 East South Division. While 518 people were arrested on March 1, 459 on Mach 2, sources said.
“Overall, Holi was peaceful. We had deployed our forces all around the city,” added an officer. Bidhannagar Commissionerate, which covers important areas like Rajarhat, VIP Road, recorded 223 preventive arrests.
“The total number of preventive arrests were 223 on March 1 and 2. Nearly 27 people were arrested for drink driving, while 480 for overspeeding and other offences,” said DC (Detective Department) K Sabri Rajkumar. Ten police stations, including Baguihati, Lake Town, Airport, Rajarhat, New Town, fall under the commissionerate’s jurisdiction.
“Our focus was more on curbing disorderly activities such as drunken brawls, forcibly smearing colours on people, throwing water-filled balloons at pedestrians without their knowledge or consent,” said a police officer.
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