Election Commission seeks report on Belgachhia firing

KOLKATA: The EC asked Kolkata Police to file a report within 24 hours on an incident of firing at Belgachhia tram depot on Friday evening, when the BJP was holding a meeting. BJP leader Arjun Singh was present at the spot. Allegedly, four bullets were fired during a clash between Trinamool and BJP supporters and stones were hurled. BJP’s Belgachhia-Cossipore candidate Shibaji Singha Roy was injured. A bullet shell was found on the spot.
EC officials demanded to know the reason behind the firing and how the BJP candidate was injured.
As the meeting started, stones were reportedly hurled at the dais, leaving Singha Roy injured. He was taken to hospital.
BJP’s Arindam Saha claimed he had taken cop permission for the meeting and they held no rally, as it was banned by EC. “We followed all EC norms but suddenly, some people started throwing stones.” BJP MP Arjun Singh told TOI, “We were attacked with stones. Even firing took place. A security guard gave me his helmet but he was injured in the face. The stone pelting went on despite cops and my guards chasing them. If the security guard had not fired in the air, I would have been killed. There was firing at me and my security guards fired in the air, cordoned me off and took me away from the spot. They fired to protect my life,” Singh added.
Trinamool candidate Atin Ghosh said BJP leaders had abused a community, in protest of which locals threw stones at the dais. He said Trinamool was not involved. He also claimed Singha Roy was not injured, but he might have tripped in the melee. “It had nothing to do with politics. It was triggered by hate speech,” he said.