Kolkata: A report by the West Bengal Chief Secretary, H.K. Dwivedi, on the violence during the BJP’s march to state Secretariat Nabanna against corruption issues on September 13 was submitted to the Calcutta High Court on Monday afternoon.
State Advocate General, S.N. Mukhopadhyay submitted the report along with two pen drives to a division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj, adding that the pen drives contain video footage of the incidents of violence on that day.
“If you see the video everything will be clear to you. None had been arrested without proper grounds. It is not acceptable that the police will not arrest those who destroy public property. A police vehicle was torched and several police personnel were injured,” he told the bench.
BJP’s counsel Smrajit Roy Chowdhury informed the court that of the total arrested, 44 were from Kolkata only.
“The arrests are continuing. The state government is giving wrong information that only 19 persons have been arrested,” he argued. He also demanded that the state government should submit the report to the court in the form of an affidavit.
Pockets in the state especially in Kolkata and Howrah district turned into virtual battlefields on September 13 over BJP’s march to Nabanna. BJP activists police clashed at several places, and a number of people from both sides were injured. A police vehicle was also torched on that day.
Holding the BJP responsible for the violence, Trinamool Congress’ national General Secretary, Abhishek Banerjee said that had he been there at the spot he would have shot the offenders in their heads. His statement attracted strong criticisms from the opposition parties.
Meanwhile, a five-member central fact-finding team of BJP was in West Bengal during the last couple of days and interacted with the injured party workers.
–IANS