Kolkata, Oct 9 (IANS): West Bengal Police on Friday arrested a 29-year-old person in connection with the attack at the residence of senior advocate and former CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya at Purbalok near Jadavpur in South Kolkata early Thursday morning, officials said.
The person arrested has been identified as Bappa Guchait. He has been taken into custody from his residence in Garia, on the southern outskirts of Kolkata.
“He has been slapped with various charges including wilful destruction of property, disturbing peace in an area, insulting and intimidating others, destruction of evidence of crime, and forgery. The police will produce the arrested person in court on Friday, and the public prosecutor will seek police custody. The police informed the Calcutta High Court on Friday that one person has been arrested in connection with the attack on Bikash’s house,” said a state police officer.
On Thursday, Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Ravindra Vithalrao Ghuge expressed concern over the series of attacks on advocates at different courts in the state and also directed the state government to submit a report on actions taken.
The police learnt to have arrested Guchait based on the evidence collected from CCTV cameras installed near Bhattacharya’s residence. He is being interrogated to ascertain whether other persons were also involved in the attack on the former CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member.
A photograph of the arrested person has surfaced on social media in which he is seen wearing a scarf around his neck with the Trinamool Congress’s original electoral symbol printed on it. However, police have so far not released his photo to the media, nor have they authenticated the photo.
It is believed he might have been associated with the Trinamool Congress at some point in time. However, it is not clear whether he changed his political affiliation after the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly polls.
Meanwhile, a pro-Hindutva Group has filed two counter complaints at Topsia and Garfa Police Stations, both under the Kolkata Police, where the former CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member had been accused of making derogatory remarks targeting a particular religion.
