Kolkata: A district Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, who had allegedly threatened to tie police personnel with tree and beat them, was arrested by the police on Sunday night.
The accused, Shankar Chakraborty, who is the North Dinajpur district president of the party, however feigned illness before his court production on Monday morning.
He was taken to a hospital where he was treated before he was produced at the court which remanded him in jail custody for one day after rejecting his bail plea. Controversy marked Mr Chakraborty’s speech on Sunday afternoon at Islampur where two students were killed in alleged police firing recently.
He told the gathering, “Put up resistance if the police do not follow the rules and unleash atrocities. Attack them with sticks and sickles. Tie them with trees and beat them. Two lives were lost in police firing. But no one has been arrested so far.”
While he was returning home, the police arrested him from the national highway (NH) 34 in the Botolbari area in Karandighi for making the provocative speech.
The police also collected the footage containing Mr Chakraborty’s controversial remarks. Defending Mr Chakraborty, state BJP president Dilip Ghosh however said, “Many Trinamul Congress leaders have made such comments in the past. Neither they were booked in any case nor they were arrested.”
The state BJP president added, “If the police do not show restraint, the result will be opposite. The police is only adding fuel to the fire by initiating suo moto cases against us. They should be careful.”
