A section of Kolkata’s intellectuals and politicians raised questions here on Tuesday on the detention of thespian and Bengali film-maker Suman Mukhopadhyay by the Biddhanagar Police Commissionerate earlier this week.
Mr. Mukhopadhyay, who was detained in connection with the alleged suicide bid by Bengali actress Swastika Mukherjee, said he was detained for 23 hours before he was allowed to go on Monday night, as claimed by the police. Police, however, justified the action against Mr. Muhkopadhyay saying there were attempts to “mystify the incident” and asserted the injury to the actress was “not accidental’.
The film-maker and a well-known face on television debates was summoned by the police on Sunday, a day after the actor was hospitalised with an injury on her arm.
The film-maker has been critical of the Mamata Banerjee government after his films were denied certification by the State Censor Board.
Commenting on the developments centring his detention, Mr. Mukhopadhyay said, “I was interrogated on a lot of issues by various officers. I had to spend around 23 hours at the police station and was told by my lawyers that I may be arrested. They also made me sign an arrest memo. But later they decided not to arrest me,” the film-maker said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detective Department) of Bidhannagar City Police Arnab Ghosh said the police acted as per the law and claimed there were attempts to tamper with the evidence.
“We had to interrogate him because there have been attempts to mystify the incident. Contrary to claims by his family members that he was out of the country at the time of the incident, our investigation has revealed that he was present at the place of occurrence,” Mr. Ghosh told journalists.
Meanwhile eminent personalities and politicians from the Opposition parties questioned the police action. Left Front chairperson Biman Bose said that such incidents occurred in the past and they reflected the vindictive attitude of the State government. “I am saddened by the incident and strongly protest against it,” legendary actor Soumitra Chatterjee said.
Eminent actor Kaushik Sen said he suspected some other reason for the detention of Mr. Mukhopadhyay.
