On 8th February (Sunday), Rabindranath Bhattacharya, a senior lawyer and leader of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC or TMC) was arrested after the filing of an FIR (First Information Report) accusing him of assaulting an 81-year-old man named Tulsi Adhikari to death in Barrackpore of North 24 Parganas district, West Bengal.
Bhattacharya was brought before a Barrackpore court the following afternoon as he was charged with murder under section 101 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). His bail plea was rejected and he was placed under seven days of remand in police custody by sub-divisional court judge.
Bhattacharya served as the secretary of the Barrackpore Bar Association and a TMC councillor representing North Barrackpore Municipality’s Ward Number 23 but was reportedly suspended from the party for six years. “An investigation is on, and the accused will be further interrogated. We are also waiting for the autopsy report to know the exact cause of the victim’s death,” informed an official.
Adhikari confronted the accused to protest a three-story illegal building next to his home in Barrackpore’s Manirampur, which is close to Bally Ghat. The locals stated that the latter appeared on the scene of a demonstration against the unlawful construction on 7th February (Saturday) when the altercation turned physical.
The victim stepped in to defend his son Hemant who was attacked by Bhattacharya. However, Adhikari’s family members expressed that the Bhattacharya kicked the elderly man who fell down. He was then pronounced dead at a Barrackpore cantonment hospital.
The authorities mentioned, “We are investigating the involvement of local leaders in the illegal construction that triggered the protest. The body of the deceased has been sent for a postmortem to determine the exact cause of his death.” The area has been blocked off and police are examining CCTV footage taken at the scene of the incident. Additionally, they are recording the statements of neighbours and witnesses.
Adhikari family had protested to Bhattacharya about the unauthorised structure but no action was transpired hence they submitted an official complaint with the municipality to pay heed to their request. Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched an agitation and demanded capital punishment for Bhattacharya. The party stated that he had been receiving “VIP treatment” behind bars.
BJP workers marched from Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s statue at Chiria More to the Barrackpore court under the leadership of former MP Arjun Singh and Barrackpore organisational district president of the party, Tapas Ghosh. They broke over police barricades and held a sit-in, obstructing traffic as well as blocking the road for some time, which resulted in furious exchanges and minor spats with cops.
“We are protesting the VIP treatment given by the police to the killer councillor. We are lifting the sit-in for the sake of students appearing for the Madhyamik (class 10 state board) examinations. But once the exams are over, we will launch a larger protest movement if justice is not delivered,” Singh declared.
