BJP MP suffers head injuries during clash, claims cops baton-charged him
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Arjun Singh suffered head injuries on Sunday (September 1) when police allegedly indulged in baton charge at Kankinara in West Bengals North 24 Parganas district to lift a road blockade by a group of persons.
Singh claimed Barrackpore police commissioner Manoj Verma struck him, causing a gash on his head. The MP, wearing a blood-soaked shirt and a bandage on head, said that Verma led a police contingent which attacked a “peaceful” protest by the BJP over the capture of its party office at Shyamnagar.
A senior police officer, however, claimed that stones were being hurled during a clash between two groups at Kankinara and Singh suffered injuries in the melee.
ममता दीदी ने बंगाल की सड़को को रण भूमि मैं बदल दिया है, TMC खून की प्यासी हो रखी है, अमानवीय हरकतों मैं १ नंबर है यह सरकार.#bengal #tmchhi #shame@MamataOfficial @AmitShah @BJP4India @BJP4Bengal @KailashOnline @KishoreKar @DilipGhoshBJP @MukulR_Official pic.twitter.com/NfCBLETkY6
— Arjun Singh (@ArjunsinghWB) September 1, 2019
Also Read: Saffron surge stuns Trinamool Congress in Mamata’s citadel
Local sources said that a mob that had blocked a road started pelting stones at the police officers, as soon as they arrived at the spot. The force retaliated and baton charged the gathering to clear the road. Both Shyamnagar and Kankinara come under the Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency, of which Singh is the MP.
Several areas, including Bhatpara and Kankinara, in the constituency have been in the grip of violence since Singh won the election on a BJP ticket, having deserted the ruling Trinamool Congress, of which he was an MLA.
Fresh clashes broke out between the supporters of the two parties on Sunday over control of a party office at Shyamnagar, they said.
Today @MamataOfficial ordered her goons to first hijack #BJP office in my district and when I reached the spot they attacked me, Destroyed my car and injured the driver.
Police is a mute spectator,law and order is in tatters in #WestBengal.#savebengal #TMC@BJP4Bengal @BJP4India pic.twitter.com/Z9wNIC3FHs— Arjun Singh (@ArjunsinghWB) September 1, 2019
Also Read: Bengal: ‘Joy Bangla’ is now TMC’s answer to BJP’s ‘Jai Shri Ram’
Earlier in the day, Singh’s vehicle was vandalised near Shyamnagar railway station. According to Ajay Thakur, DC-zone 1, Barrackpore police commissionerate, some miscreants attacked the Barrackpore MP’s car, smashing its windows. “The matter has been reported to the police and an investigation is underway,” he said.
The parliamentarian claimed that the TMC supporters attacked and damaged his car. He also said that the ruling party was using force to capture BJP party offices at various places in Barrackpore constituency, a charge denied by the Trinamool Congress.
West Bengal Food and Supplies minister Jyotipriya Mallick asserted that it was the saffron party which had forcibly taken over the TMC’s party offices in Barrackpore.
“Arjun Singh should remember what his people had done to take over our party offices. Even Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had caught the BJP workers red-handed while they were painting a TMC office in saffron colour,” he added.
