At least five persons involved in the mob attack on Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday have been taken into custody by the police. Among those held in the Abhishek Banerjee attack case are Tapan Maity and Akash who are reportedly seen in the videos.
The attack on Abhishek Banerjee took place in Sonarpur of South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, while he was in the area to meet one of the victims of post-poll violence. The victim, Sanju Karmakar, was also a TMC worker.
Scores of people hurled eggs, stones and abuses at Abhishek Banerjee, shouting ‘chor, chor’ (thief, thief) when he was visiting the victim's family. Videos of the incident showed the TMC national general secretary, wearing a cricket helmet, being escorted by aides as dozens follow him, attempting to pull his shirt.
Unidentified people scuffled with the leader and roughed him up while raising chants of “thief, thief”. The situation quickly spiralled into chaos, with some members of the crowd reportedly attempting to physically attack Abhishek Banerjee by raining blows and kicks on him, prompting swift intervention by security personnel.
Abhishek Banerjee still reached the post-poll violence victim's house and met the family. He later blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for a attack on him.
“They wanted to kill me. The whole incident has been captured on camera. We will definitely let the high court know about this. We will also let the governor know about this. I will definitely move court,” The TMC MP said.
“It's all BJP-sponsored. Look what they have done. This is their example of democracy. It hasn't even been a month, and the police are nowhere to be seen. My head was somehow spared; fortunately, I was wearing a helmet. They have torn my clothes and broken my spectacles,” he alleged.
How Mamata Banerjee reacted
TMC supremo and former chief minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee has questioned the security after Abhishek Banerjee claimed that there was no police presence until he was attacked. She also raised questions on the treatment he was given at the hospital.
Abhishek Banerjee was taken to a private hospital where he was allotted a bed in its Intensive Therapy Unit (ITU) as the doctors maintained that his injuries were superficial in nature and did not warrant admission.
“If there was genuinely no need for hospitalisation, why was he first taken to the ITU, kept under observation for nearly two hours, and advised to undergo multiple medical tests and scans?” she asked.
