West Bengal administration springs into action a day after Mamata’s salvo at police inaction

Two leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress were arrested and one police Officer-in-charge suspended amidst rising questions over police inaction.

A day after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee criticised police for inaction, West Bengal Police on Friday (November 22, 2024) arrested two leaders of her Trinamool Congress in smuggling cases. An Officer-in-charge was suspended from his post. Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said it was the Chief Minister not the police who was responsible for the “ongoing lawlessness”.

The police arrested a former Trinamool councillor, Arubindo Nandi, and a TMC block vice-president, Rintu Panja, from Durgapur in Paschim Bardhaman district in iron smuggling cases.

The two suspects were questioned at the local police station on Thursday night. They were arrested later around midnight. They were also produced before the Durgapur court on Friday. The police said the two had been arrested for their involvement in anti-social affairs.

In Asansol, Officer-in-charge Manoranjan Mondal of Barabani Thana was suspended “pending departmental enquiry into his unprofessional conduct”.

At a public meeting at Nabanna (the State Secretariat) on Thursday, the Chief Minister said, “Lower-level officers, workers, and some police officers take bribes in [cases of] smuggling sand, coal, and cement theft.” She wondered why she and other politicians should shoulder the blame for the corruption of certain sections of police and office workers. Ms. Banerjee also said that anyone involved in such activities should be “grabbed by the collar and brought to justice because the law is the same for all.”

War of words

LOP Suvendu Adhikari said that the sudden administrative actions and Ms. Banerjee coming down on police officers were all an eyewash. He said, “There is not a single place where the people she (referring to Ms. Mamata Banerjee) has brought to politics are not running syndicates to collect money from people. All this talk about coal, cement smuggling means nothing.”

Trinamool leader Kunal Ghosh too criticised the police in a public address at Nandigram on Friday. He said, “Police personnel who have CPI(M) and other political parties in their heart, they look for opportunities to harm the government and the ruling party, it is time to identify them.”

In the past few days, various Trinamool leaders, including senior MP Sougato Roy and Kolkata Municipal Corporation Mayor and MLA Firhad Hakim, have pointed fingers at the State police force for inaction.

Published - November 22, 2024 08:55 pm IST