Bengal DGP acknowledges mistakes and inaction in unrest Sandeshkhali

SANDESHKHALI: A local party official was assaulted by locals in the Bermajur II panchayat area on Friday, amid new violence that shook the town. The bheri, or fish farm, is owned by Siraj, the brother of TMC strongman Sheikh Shahjahan, who is now on the run. While the district government enforced Section 144 prohibitory orders, Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar hurriedly returned from Kolkata to Sandeshkhali.

In an interview with reporters, Kumar acknowledged that the police had failed to act upon accusations against land grabbers. Additionally, police organized marches to boost public trust.

Before departing for Kolkata on Thursday, Kumar had made many stops in Sandeshkhali on Wednesday. However, on Friday morning, less than twenty-four hours after his homecoming, men and women from Kachhari village invaded Siraj’s bheri and set fire to the thatched buildings next to the body of water. After that, they attacked the TMC official and his spouse while pillaging Bermajur president Ajit Maity’s home. According to the peasants, Maity took their farmlands and turned them into fish farms for Siraj and Shahjahan.

When the police arrived and took 11 persons into custody, ladies surrounded the cars to prevent the officers from taking them to the Sandeshkhali police station. While other people blocked the road with logs and set fire to tires, some of the ladies fell down on the pavement and demanded that the guilty be released right away.
DGP Kumar promised the locals that their concerns about land grabs would be looked into, but he also stressed that those who engaged in vandalism would face consequences.