New Delhi: Kolkata Police have arrested Congress’s West Bengal spokesperson Kaustav Bagchi from his residence for his alleged remarks against chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
The complaint against Bagchi was registered at the Burtolla police station for his response to criticism from Banerjee, after the ruling party lost in the Sardighi assembly by-poll results.
“We have arrested Kaustav Bagchi from his residence in Barrackpore. We cannot talk much about it. Our officers are talking to him,” a senior police officer told PTI.
The news agency reported that a big team from the Burtolla police station went to Bagchi’s residence in Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal at around 3:30 am and arrested him.
He was brought to Kolkata and held at Burtolla police station, where party workers protested outside.
According to PTI, the charges against Bagchi were brought under the Indian Penal Code’s Sections 120(B) (criminal conspiracy), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) and others.
The Congress spokesperson had apparently reacted to chief minister Banerjee’s words against West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury after the win by the opposition party in the Sagardighi by-poll election on Thursday.
The minority-dominated assembly constituency was unexpectedly won by Congress’s Bayron Biswas, defeating the Trinamool Congress candidate by 22,986 votes. It marked the entrance of the Congress-Left Front into the state assembly, as the alliance had drawn a blank in the last elections.
For the last 12 years, this seat has been held by the TMC. It had previously been a Congress bastion till the late 1980s.
Chowdhury had described the win as a “victory for the state’s Congress and the Left alliance”. “People have put their faith in us and have discarded both the TMC and the BJP. The TMC should remember that the beginning of their end has begun from the Murshidabad district,” he said, as per Telegraph newspaper.
West Bengal chief minister Banerjee had claimed that the Congress and Left parties had entered into an understanding with the BJP to defeat the ruling party.
“For the Sagardighi loss, I do not blame anyone. Sometimes, in a democracy, developments may usually be positive or negative. But, there is an immoral alliance, which we strongly condemn. The BJP transferred its votes to the Congress,” said Banerjee.