BJP protesters barge into Girish Park police station in Kolkata, try to free arrested colleagues

KOLKATA: More than 300 BJP Yuva Morcha workers broke barricades and gatecrashed the Girish Park police station on Monday and attempted to forcibly take away the nine men who were arrested for allegedly attacking state minister Shashi Panja and a group of policemen on their way to the PM's Brigade rally last Saturday.

The workers gathered outside the north Kolkata police station in the afternoon, clashed with police, and breached three barricades. Several protesters broke the locks and tried to enter the main premises of the police station before being stopped by an additional team of policemen.

"All nine are karyakartas of our party. The violence and brick-batting were instigated by Trinamool supporters, followers of local MLA and minister Shashi Panja, to prevent our men from attending Modi's rally," a BJP leader alleged. "They wrongfully arrested our workers. We are demanding their immediate release. They must arrest the actual culprits linked to Trinamool," said Meena Devi Purohit, BJP councillor from Ward 22.

Kolkata Police commissioner Ajay Kumar Nand described the Girish Park incident as "extremely unfortunate" and said police action was under way. He reaffirmed the force's readiness for the upcoming elections, emphasising fairness and impartiality. "People have a lot of expectation from police that we will perform our duty with fairness and impartiality. Meeting those expectations is the real challenge for the police, and we will have to fulfil it," he said.

At least six cops, including the Bowbazar OC, and multiple Trinamool and BJP supporters were injured in the mayhem that continued on one of the city's major arterial roads for close to an hour on Saturday afternoon. Minister Panja, herself injured, took shelter inside her home as her aides and some cops bolted the door from inside and barricaded themselves.

Police registered 3 separate FIRs — one suo motu and the other two lodged by the TMC and BJP, respectively. All nine were produced before a Bankshall court and were remanded to police custody until March 19.

According to police, Monday's Yuva Morcha rally began at Vivekananda Road and moved towards the station without prior permission. "The programme did not include any protest in front of the police station," a police officer said.