Bombs were hurled and gunshots fired at the residence of former MP and senior BJP leader’s Bhatpara residence in North 24 Parganas about 50 km off Kolkata, the politician on Friday alleged.
Claiming that he had received a bullet when it grazed past him, the former Trinamool Congress-turned-BJP MP said that a band of TMC criminals were behind the attack.
“At about 8.30 in the morning when the family members were busy preparing for Navaratri Pujas some criminals at the instance of local TMC councilor Namit Singh attacked my house-cum-office at Mazdoor Bhawan with brickbats, bombs and they even fired gunshots,” he said adding, Namit Singh was a criminal whose name figured in the cases being investigated by the National Investigation Agency.
He also alleged that the police stood silent spectator when the gun-toting criminals stomped about the area. “Everything was done at the instance of the local TMC leadership and in connivance with the police who are acting like slaves of the TMC leaders,” the leader often referred to be a strongman of the area said.
“They hurled about 15 bombs one after the other … they terrorised the locals and the members of my family but the administration did nothing,” he said.
Referred to as a mafia zone Barrackpore an industrial region dominated mostly by jute mills has been a hotbed of political clashes — resulting in several deaths — from the days of the erstwhile Left Front. Singh was a TMC MLA from the region in those days and a close follower of the then Opposition Leader and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
When asked to comment on the Friday’s attacks local TMC MLA and archrival of Singh said Somnath Shyam said that his party was not involved in the attacks. “The police must be taking action if at all there is any incident … but the TMC is not involved in anything,” he said.
Singh who had twice been an MP from Barrackpore, first on BJP ticket defeating TMC’s Dinesh Trivedi in 2014 and then on TMC ticket winning in 2019 general elections. He finally joined the BJP after he was not given a ticket by the TMC in 2024 and contested against the sitting Bengal Minister Partha Bhowmick conceding the seat to him.
