All but seven workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party, including party national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and West Bengal unit chief Dilip Ghosh and Rajya Sabha member Rupa Ganguly, were released from police custody on Friday.
Earlier in the day, 141 people, including prominent party leaders, were presented before Bankshall Court. Seven people who were charged with non-bailable sections have been sent to police custody till May 29.
Mr. Vijayvargiya and other leaders were taken into custody by Kolkata Police on Thursday during the BJP’s Lalbazar Abhiyaan and spent the night at Lalbazar police headquarters After being released, Mr. Vijayvargiya held a press conference and accused the Trinamool Congress government of not showing any “political courtesy” to the Opposition.
“This government does not know minimum political courtesy. We were treated like criminals. In a place where 60 people could be accommodated, the police kept more than 100 of our supporters,” he said.
Video clips shown
The BJP leadership showed video clips alleging that stones were pelted on the protesters from the nearby buildings and locals having allegiance to ruling party attacked them during the march.
Refutes claim
BJP State president Dilip Ghosh refuted the police claims on bombs being hurled by BJP supporters and said that it came from a nearby building.
Mr. Vijayvargiya targeted Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and said that the party would go to court over the developments.
The BJP general secretary also threatened to make public the assets of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s family.
Large scale violence had erupted on Thursday during BJP’s ‘Lalbazar Abhiyaan’. While the BJP claimed 200 of its workers were injured and accused the police of “unprovoked attacks” the Kolkata Police had accused the BJP of planned hooliganism.
One police vehicle was torched, and a number of government and private cars were damaged in the violence.
During the day protests were held in different parts of State, including Kolkata, Siliguri and Birbhum protesting against the “police attack” on BJP workers on Thursday.
