Cops, lawyers clash in court over arrest

KOLKATA: In what seemed like a scene straight from a movie, a man granted bail by the Bankshall court, was rearrested by the police on Monday afternoon, even as a fleet of lawyers tried to prevent it.
Pandemonium ensued outside the court when two men — who later identified themselves as officers of the detective department’s antirowdy squad — pounced on a man walking out of the court and led him to a waiting taxi.
What the cops did not realise was that the man’s lawyer was close on the heels. The lawyer, Sandeep Bhattacharya, claimed his client Sheikh Suleman had been granted bail and police ought to explain the reason for arresting him again. The cops refused, angering Bhattacharya and his colleagues.
This sparked a pitched battle between the lawyers and police. The lawyers,who outnumbered the two cops, managed to drag Suleman out of the taxi. By then, the hapless cops had informed their seniors. Police vehicles rushed to the spot and Suleman was herded off to Lalbazar.
Though DC (HQ) H.P. Singh dismissed it as a minor incident, onlookers claimed that the incident had created considerable tension. Hare Street police station OC, D.P.Bhattacharya, claimed he was unaware of the matter though Hare Street cops — under whose jurisdiction the incident occurred — had themselves intervened.
Police said Suleman, a goldsmith, had reportedly duped a woman. He had allegedly taken money from her to deliver jewellery but failed to keep the promise.